Traditional Vegetal Food of Yezidis and Kurds in Armenia
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JEF42_proof ■ 1 March 2016 ■ 1/10 J Ethn Foods - (2016) 1e10 55 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect 56 57 Journal of Ethnic Foods 58 59 60 journal homepage: http://journalofethnicfoods.net 61 62 63 Original article 64 65 1 Food as a marker for economy and part of identity: traditional vegetal 66 2 67 3 food of Yezidis and Kurds in Armenia 68 4 69 b, * a b 5 Q24 Roman Hovsepyan , Nina Stepanyan-Gandilyan , Hamlet Melkumyan , 70 6 Lili Harutyunyan b 71 7 72 a 8 Q2 Institute of Botany, Yerevan, Armenia 73 b Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Yerevan, Armenia 9 74 10 75 11 article info abstract 76 12 77 13 Article history: 78 14 Q4 The traditional food of the Yezidis and Kurds of Armenia has some particularities and differences Available online xxx compared with the traditional cuisine of Armenians. We correlate these distinctions with the trans- 79 15 humant pastoral lifestyle of the Yezidi and Kurdish people. Traditional dishes of Yezidis and Kurds are 80 16 Keywords: simple. They are mostly made from or contain as a main component lamb and milk products (sometimes 81 17 edible plants beef and chicken, but never pork). The main vegetal components of their traditional food are represented 82 fl 18 avorings by cultivated cereals, grains, and herbs of wild plants. Edible plants gathered from the wild are used 83 gathering 19 primarily for nutritional purposes, for flavoring prepared meals and milk products, and for tea. Kurds 84 20 © traditional food Copyright 2016, Korea Food Research Institute, Published by Elsevier. This is an open access article 85 21 Q5 Yezidis under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). 86 22 87 23 88 24 89 25 90 26 1. Introduction Mount Aragats (territories administratively included in the Aragats 91 27 and Talin regions of Aragatsotn marz), are descendants of earlier 92 28 The largest ethnic minority of Armenia is Kurmanji (a language migrants who came there in several waves throughout the last 2 93 29 of northern Kurds) speaking people who confess Yezidism (or centuries [1,5]. 94 e 30 Sharfadin) [1 4]. The majority of these people call themselves Yezidis and Kurds of Armenia are typically settled in rural or 95 31 Yezidi and believe that Yezidi is an ethnic group, while some of suburban areas, which are largely preconditioned by their eco- 96 32 them call themselves Kurds and argue that Yezidism is just a reli- nomic activity [5e7]. Until recent decades the main occupation of 1 97 33 gion . In Armenia, Yezidis live mainly in the region of Mount Ara- Yezidis and Kurds in Armenia was sheep breeding [8]; other 98 34 gats and in the Ararat Valley, a territory which falls into four forms of agriculture including plant breeding were small scale 99 35 administrative regions (marzes in Armenian): Aragatsotn, Armavir, and not obligatory [7]. Present public opinion as well as profes- 100 2 “ ” 36 Ararat, and Kotayk . Yezidis of Armenia, primarily descendants of sional and media circles see Yezidis as nomadic pastoralists , 101 37 refugees from the eastern parts of the Ottoman Empire, keep their devoid of any relation with plants. However, the ethnobotanical 102 e 38 memories about forced migration with their Armenian fellow vil- studies carried out in 2013 2015 suggest that the aforemen- 103 fi th 39 lagers in the rst quarter of the 20 century in the oral traditions tioned opinion is rather a stereotype. Currently, many Yezidi 104 40 through family stories. The lesser part of this population, mostly families, primarily those living in the Ararat Valley, do not 105 41 living in the foothills and highland plains of the northern part of practice animal breeding or do it on a small scale. Regarding 106 42 plant gathering, in fact, Yezidis and Kurds can be characterized by 107 43 distinct gathering traditions along with associated culinary and 108 folk medicine practices. 44 * Corresponding author. Institute of Archeology and Ethnography, 15 Charents 109 45 Q3 Street, Yerevan, Armenia. 110 46 E-mail address: [email protected] (R. Hovsepyan). 111 1 The ethnic identity of these people with identical ancestry, language, religion, 2. Materials and methods 47 112 and household culture is complicated and will not be discussed below as it is not 48 113 issue of our current study. All kurmanji speaking people in Armenia accept Yezidi This is documentative and descriptive work predominately 49 identification and there are no differences in traditional food. 114 aimed at uncovering the vegetal component of Armenian Yezidi 50 2 The results of the 2011 population census of the Republic of Armenia․ National 115 ․ fi and Kurdish people's traditional food, which has remained gener- 51 statistical service of RA http://armstat.am/ le/doc/99486253.pdf [last accessed 116 20.09.2015]. ally in the shadows in scientific literature until now. 52 117 53 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jef.2016.01.003 118 54 2352-6181/Copyright © 2016, Korea Food Research Institute, Published by Elsevier. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/ 119 licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Please cite this article in press as: Hovsepyan R, et al., Food as a marker for economy and part of identity: traditional vegetal food of Yezidis and Kurds in Armenia, Journal of Ethnic Foods (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jef.2016.01.003 JEF42_proof ■ 1 March 2016 ■ 2/10 2 J Ethn Foods 2016; -:1e10 1 66 2 67 3 68 4 69 5 70 6 71 7 72 8 73 9 74 10 75 11 76 12 77 13 78 14 79 15 80 16 81 17 82 18 83 19 84 20 85 21 86 22 87 23 88 24 89 25 90 26 91 27 92 Q21 28 Fig. 1. Map showing studied settlements (circles with numbers) and areas with temporary pasture stations in the mountains (red colored with letters). Village 1: Sipan; 2: Avshen; 93 3: Jamshlu; 4: Alagyaz; 5: Charchakis (Derek); 6: Mijnatun (Ortachia); 7: Sadunts; 8: Kaniashir; 9: Shenkani; 10: Rya Taza; 11: Mirak; 12: Tlik; 13: Hakko; 14: Kanch (Gyalto); 15: 29 Sorik; 16: Hatsashen (Sabunchi); 17: Arevut (Barozh); 18: Ddmasar (Ghapaghtapa); 19: Metsadzor (Avtola); 20: Shamiram; 21: Oshakan (Aragatsotn marz); 22: Shenik; 23: 94 30 Myasnikyan; 24: Tandzut; 25: Yeghegnut (Badal); 26: Zartonk (Ghamshlu); 27: Aknalich; 28: Ferik; 29: Jrarat; 30: Aknashen; 31: Aratashen (Armavir marz); 32: Ranchpar; 33: 95 31 Noramarg; 34: Mkhchyan; 35: Mrganush; 36: Getazat; 37: Berdik; 38: Verin Artashat (Ararat marz); 39: Zovuni; 40: Kanakeravan; 41: Banavan; 42: Nor Geghi; 43: Arzni; 44: 96 32 Balahovit; 45: Mayakovskiy (Kotayk marz). High mountainous temporary pastoral stations: A: Mount Aragats; B: Mount Ajdahak; C: Sevaberd; D: Hankavan; and E: Jermuk. 97 33 98 34 The primary data of the current studydinformation about in higher demand4. Local Yezidis and Kurds from older generations 99 35 traditional fooddwas collected via direct observations and oral his- often refer to the taste of cooked meat when they want to qualify 100 36 tories recorded in interviews in more than 40 villages and approxi- other dishes. We connect these strong connections with animal food 101 37 mately 20 high mountainous temporary pastoral stations (Fig. 1). products with sheep breeding and the transhumant pastoral life- 102 38 Yezidi villages, Kurdish villages, and villages with mixed populations style which predominated among Yezidis and Kurds in Armenia [7]. 103 39 (with Armenians) were investigated: Banavan, Nor Geghi, Arzni, Due to a seminomadic pastoral economy plant cultivation 104 40 Mayakovskiy, Balahovit, Zovuni, Kanakeravan (Kotayk marz), among the Yezidis and the Kurds, the economy was not diverse 105 41 Ranchpar, Noramarg, Mkhchyan, Verin Artashat, Berdik, Mrganush, until recent decades and was often limited to the cultivation of 106 42 Getazat (Ararat marz), Ferik, Aknalich, Aratashen, Aknashen, Tandzut, cereals to satisfy only family needs [5,22,23]. Consequently the 107 43 Zartonk (Ghamshlu), Yeghegnut (Badal), Jrarat, Shenik, Myasnikyan majority of traditional dishes prepared using cultivated plants are 108 44 (Armavir marz), Tlik, Arevut (Barozh), Ddmasar (Ghapaghtapa), based on cereals [5]. Presently the plant cultivation practices of this 109 45 Sorik, Hatsashen (Sabunchi), Metsadzor (Avtola), Kanch (Gyalto), “sun-worshipping” people closely replicate those of the Christians 110 46 Hakko, Shamiram, Oshakan, Mirak, Rya Taza, Charchakis (Derek), living in the same region, specifically the Armenians, and their food 111 47 Alagyaz, Shenkani, Jamshlu, Sipan, Avshen, Mijnatun (Ortachia), is very similar [9,10,24]. There are a few peculiarities in the tradi- 112 48 Sadunts, Kaniashir (Aragatsotn marz), as well as high mountainous tional food of the Yezidis that stem from their beliefs and caste 113 49 temporary pastoral stations of Mount Aragats, Mount Ajdahak, and system (avoiding pork, cabbage, and some other products, see 114 50 surroundings of Sevaberd, Hankavan, and Jermuk (Fig. 1). below) but these are not widespread. 115 51 We used a semiquantitative method to describe types of gath- According to our observations and interviews as well as notes in 116 52 ered plants used for particular goals (Table 1). Plants gathered and some publications [5,6,22], traditional dishes prepared and 117 53 used for dietary purposes were sampled and later identified [21] preferred by Yezidis and Kurds in Armenia can be grouped by main 118 54 and stored in the herbarium of the Institute of Botany NAS, components and according to preference: meat, milk products, 119 55 Armenia. cereals/grains, and herbs. When grouped according to use, these 120 56 foods are (from most used to least used): cereal products, milk 121 57 3.