Some of my favorite memories of life in Armenia relate to food. Armenians are a wonderfully hospitable people and anywhere you go, you will be offered something to eat and drink. For me, personally, my best memories relate to trying to wind my way through the long market streets to pick up supplies for my weekend cooking.
Armenian outdoor markets come to life especially on weekends, but they are equally busy during weekdays. In my city, Vanadzor, the market often seemed to spill out on to the main street and fruit and vegetable vendors popped up wherever the sidewalks offered space. I tended to be a big fan of the local greens. Never in my life had I seen such variety and freshness. My typical shopping basket included fresh spinach, cilantro, dill, basil (usually the purple variety, as sweet basil was not as common), romaine lettuce, bib lettuce, tarragon and green onions. I generally tried to spread my shopping across multiple vendors: this allowed me to get to know different people working in the markets and also to test the quality of different goods.
One of my guilty pleasures, when doing my market shopping, was picking up some fresh button mushrooms for later use in garden salads or for making omelets. I have no idea where the local farmers grow their mushrooms, but they had such a wonderful aroma and flavor. Sometimes I questioned whether I had been shopping in the wrong markets in Europe (I had lived in Prague prior to traveling to work in Armenia), or whether Armenians simply had a magic touch in growing my favorite fungi.
Another joy of my market days was using my shopping time to get to know vendors. Usually, they addressed me in Russian because at 6’4” (194 cm) in height and with fairly pale skin, they knew immediately I wasn’t from their area. So after a few words in Armenian and convincing them that we’d understand each other better in their language as opposed to the Soviet import, we quickly began our taste-testing and language learning sessions. The fun of the whole process was trying to decide afterwards whether I’d indeed learned new Armenian words or if some Russian had perhaps slipped in. I’m pretty sure that terms like malina (raspberry), boloki (radish) and jemish (cantaloupe/honeydew melon) are not 100% Armenian.
I will always treasure recollections of my time wandering through the Vanadzor shuka (market – շուկա). Taking a few extra moments to talk with the stall owners always led to small joys like better prices on meat or samples of different fruits. Also, once I had become a regular customer to a handful of street vendors, I would sometimes get an extra potato or two with my purchase or get some extra apricots for the fruit bowl on my living room table.
I highly recommend dropping by an outdoor market if you find yourself travelling through Armenia. If you make the summer season, make sure you load up on the super-delicious tsiran / ծիրան (apricots), dzmeruk / ձմերուկ (watermelon), and my personal favorites: purple or green tooz / թուզ (figs).
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