LOS ANGELES — Celebrated chef and author Alice Bezjian was born in 1913 in Cairo, Egypt of Armenian parents. Her grandparents left Turkey before the Armenian Genocide. The family moved to Syria before finally settling down in Beirut. Alice came from generations of gifted cooks and culinary experts. At an early age, she was introduced to the joy of food and cooking by her maternal grandfather. Her grandfather often traveled the world at a time when traveling was neither easy nor fashionable. He then returned home with new recipes, and cooked large dinners for his family. He said cooking was exciting, but the greatest pleasure was sharing one’s new and creative dishes with an appreciative family and friends.
Alice attended Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, and studied with international culinary teachers in Beirut, and later in Beverly Hills. In 1964, Alice and her family moved to Los Angeles where she, her husband Hagop, and their son Jack created Bezjian’s Grocery and Bakery near Vermont on Santa Monica Boulevard in Hollywood.
“The market was successful and eventually became a landmark for gourmet cooks, chefs, and Middle Eastern food lovers throughout Southern California. Bezjian’s Grocery and Bakery was the first Mediterranean, Middle Eastern, Persian, and especially Indian supermarket of its kind in Los Angeles,” says Jack. Customers came from great distances to purchase specialty foods, spices, and herbs, and to congregate, share knowledge, exchange recipes, and to visit with Alice and her family. One customer summed it up at the time by saying “’If It’s Bezjian’s, You Know It’s Good!’”
“Mrs. Bezjian and her family brought years of experience and background in the Middle Eastern food business, and enough capital to start over,” said the Armenian International Magazine in 1993. “The Bezjian Grocery sold retail goods to the public, wholesale markets, had a bakery, and did very well.”* Her family says that Alice was always at her store, graciously and proudly dispensing recipe tips and culinary expertise with her friends and appreciative customers. Sunset Magazine and New West wrote stories about the grocery store, and her recipes were published in several magazines. Jack remembers his mother meeting with her old customers and exchanging stories and Armenian recipes before she passed away in 2003.
Since 1966, Jack has been baking bread and owns Bezian Bakery (home of the Los Angeles sourdough) in Santa Monica. He has been one of the most influential vendors at the famed Santa Monica Farmers Market for many years. His acclaimed gourmet wild yeast breads have been sold for almost 55 years at the bakery, and for over 32 years at Southern California farmers markets (including Pasadena and Hollywood). His ground breaking baking techniques and nutritional discoveries have made his sourdough products an essential part of the community. Jack is a wellspring of information about the history and benefits of true, slowly-raised, fermented, wild yeast sourdough. He also took most of the photos in his mother’s bestselling cookbook, and the entire family prepared and tested each recipe over a four-year period before the cookbook was published.
