Los Angeles is home to one of the world's largest Armenian diaspora communities and, as would be expected, Armenian food is starting to make its way into the local culinary culture. In a very informative blog post, the LA Weekly takes a look at how LA locals are looking at Armenian food and at some local Armenian hotspots, such as Zankou Chicken and Raffi's Place. The article can be found here.
Persian New Year (Nevruz) is upon us and Turmeric & Saffron, a very nice blog devoted to Persian cooking has a great roundup on what to cook for the occasion, complete with links to recipes. The roundup can be found here.
For those who haven't read it yet, Marianna Grigoryan's Eurasianet story about the disastrous apricot harvest in Armenia this year, is well worth checking out. The story is dramatic enough, but I asked Marianna if she could explain a bit more about the apricot's place in Armenian culture. Below is a short q&a with Marianna about her story:
Why did you decide to write this story?
The apricot is something special for Armenians and during the harvest in June and July it brings to the motherland many Diaspora Armenians who come to taste the sunny Armenian apricot.
As in late March it was announced that the apricot trees were damaged very much, I was following what will be in June and July. When I went to the market in early June, I was surprised very much: my daughter Sophie, who is 6-years-old asked me to buy some apricots and when I asked the seller how much it costs I was shocked! The most expensive fruit in Yerevan was Apricot! The prices were incredible. I asked the seller is this serious or a joke to have so fantastic a price on Armenian Apricot?
One woman near me who was also shopping compared the price of the apricots with bananas and complained to me that the bananas are coming to Armenia from so far are still cheaper than the apricots grown in Armenia. "You can keep your apricots in a museum," she told the seller. Other people near me who came to buy some fruits joined the conversation and told me that this year no one will buy the apricot. Everyone was angry about the prices and the situation. What a bad year they said. Every year something else happens.
