Houshamadyan: Cuisine and Fried Omelets from Diyarbekir

Sonia Tashjian, an Armenian cookbook enthusiast, author, and one of Armenia’s most valuable culinary resources, has worked tirelessly to document and preserve Armenian culture, cooking and cuisine through history in ancient Ottoman Armenian towns and villages. Her stories and articles about Armenian cuisine from this period are featured at the Houshamadyan.org website, an ongoing project to recreate the village life and culture of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire. Houshamadyan is the name of a non-profitmaking association that was founded in Berlin, Germany in 2010. At Houshamadyan, she continues to celebrate the remarkable foods and cuisine of Dikranagerd, and is helping preserve culture and memories.

“During the Ottoman era, the city of Diyarbekir/Amit/Amed/Dikranagerd served as the administrative center of the eponymous province of Diyarbekir. The region’s climate was temperate. The province’s mountains were covered with forests teeming with the rich local flora and fauna, and also serving as an important source of firewood for the locals. The area featured vast fields, orchards, bridges, and watermills. The province was rich in water, with the Tigris River flowing right down the middle of it. A multitude of streams flowed down from the mountains during the spring, feeding the Tigris. To the west of the city was Mount Karadja, and from its base flowed the frigid spring called Hamrvat. The waters of this spring were diverted to the city using a stone-lined canal.”

“Many Diyarbekir Armenians were wealthy landowners who lived comfortably. They were lively, always looking for reasons to organize parties and celebrations. It was customary to organize exclusive, separate parties for men and women. The local cuisine, too, developed against this backdrop, and differed from the cuisine of other Armenian areas in both the type of foods eaten and their presentation. One of the characteristics of Diyarbekir Armenian cuisine was the generous use of various spices, which can be explained by the fact that the city was located at the crossroads of ancient highways. Not only the local meals and sweets, but also local juices and drinks contained large amounts of spices. The cuisine of Diyarbekir boasted many succulent and visually attractive dishes that required a great amount of labor.”

“Almost every home had its own kitchen and tonterton (tonir room). Over the centuries, kitchen arrangements had been perfected. The women of Diyarbekir were proud to display their beghentsgark (sets of kitchen utensils), with large, medium and small items lined in their proper order, from regular amnigs (saucers) to taprosh lakans (wide-rimmed tubs). Household tableware consisted of metallic, clay, wooden, glass and earthen plates, trays, pitchers, bottles and baskets. Lavash was the everyday staple bread in the local diet, and was baked at home, in the tonir. However, the lavash of Diyarbekir differed from the thin lavash baked elsewhere in that it consisted of smaller and slightly thicker loaves. On holidays, the loaves were flavored with oil and spices. Various bread products and pastries were also prepared by the market bakeries, which also baked boreg (börek) stuffed with meat or cheese.”

Mixing eggs with fresh herbs, spices, and vegetables was popular among the Armenians from Diyarbekir like these traditional omelets below.

Omelet with Eggplants