Welcome to Homemade, a monthly series from The Republic featuring family recipes and the stories behind them.
Priscilla Totiyapungprasert|Arizona Republic
Making tabbouleh is a practice in patience. Tammy Krikorian Gabel, a third-generation Armenian American, has had enough practice to know.
From the quiet of her Mesa kitchen, she gets to work.
Finely chopped parsley makes up the bulk of this Mediterranean salad dish, mixed with mint, scallions, tomatoes, bulgur and lemon juice. At night with her daughters in bed, the only sounds come from her focused preparations and the Hallmark movies playing in the background.
She separates parsley leaves from their stems — four bunches total — the way she saw her grandmother do when Gabel was a child. Her grandmother liked to have soap operas on, and Gabel wondered then whetherher Hallmark movies were just like her grandmother's soap operas, anambient soundtrack while she cooked.
She's planning a mezze, so there will be hummus, lentil patties and Armenian string cheese to accompany the tabbouleh — all foods that, in some form or another, have endured for more than a century as generations of her family moved from place to place. For Gabel, these recipes bring more than comfort food; they bring a connection to her ancestors.
April 24 marks Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day. Her great-grandparents came to the United States around 1913, shortly before the Armenian Genocide — the systematic killing of 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman Empire from 1915 to 1923.
Many of Gabel's ancestors died in the genocide, but their traditions live on more than 6,000 miles away in Arizona.
"When you think that at one point in your family history there was an element that wanted to do away with anyone who was like you, anyone who was Armenian, and you are able to continue to survive, not only survive, but share and keep your traditions alive, and pass them down — it’s a symbol," Gabel said.
"Food is a part of that story."
Armenian food has always been part of her life
It's difficult to determine how many Armenians live in the United States. In a 2018 survey by the U.S. Census Bureau, 446,786 people reported to have Armenian ancestry. But the number could be anywhere from 500,000 to 2 million people, according to the Embassy of Armenia in Washington, D.C.
Gabel and her sister grew up in California, splitting their holidays and summer vacations between a small town in northern California and Vista, a city in San Diego County where her father's parents had retired.
Her grandparents in Vista had a spacious backyard with a lemon tree, apricot tree and garden where her grandfather grew squash, cabbage and cucumbers. In the kitchen, her grandmother made apricot bastegh, the Armenian version of a fruit roll-up, and taught her grandchildren how to roll stuffed grape leaves.
"My grandma was by all accounts the ultimate housemaker," Gabel said. "She could whip up a meal to feed an army in a moment's notice."
Gabel, her sister and their cousins still make the foods from their childhood, such as choreg, a sweet bread traditionally served at Easter. They trade tips and family recipes over group texts, which is another way food has connected her to her family, Gabel said.
With each generation, some things get lost along the way.
"I don't know the language," she said. "Even when we stayed with my grandparents, they didn’t speak the language with us. And growing up outside a small town in California, I didn’t know other Armenians. The food was the most tangible part of my culture that I had growing up."
How she found home — and community — in Arizona
Gabel lived in various cities, including Phoenix, before settling in the Valley in 2013. Not long after moving, she took her daughter to Easter services at the new St. Apkar Armenian Apostolic Church in Scottsdale.
The experience felt like a homecoming, familiar and comforting in ways she didn't expect. To hear the Lord's Prayer and hymns in ancient Armenian made her feel connected to her family in some way.
The St. Apkar building stands in a residential block in central Scottsdale, where olive and pomegranate trees grow outside. On Sundays after service there's usually a coffee or lunch social. The church also throws Armenia Fest, a cultural festival with music, food and dancing.
"For me as a priest, the first role of the church is to bring people closer to Jesus," said Rev. Father Zacharia Saribekyan. "That’s my priority and first priority. Second, because the church also kept the language, music and culture, it’s kind of a spiritual homeland for lots of Armenians."
Because of the coronavirus pandemic, the church has canceled gatherings. To commemorate genocide remembrance day on April 24, St. Apkar will have a closed-door liturgical service dedicated to the 1.5 million Armenians who died.
Over the years Gabel has become an active part of the church community. She works professionally in marketing, so she volunteers to promote Armenia Fest — an event that might be canceled this year depending on the public health situation. Before the pandemic closures, she took her daughters to Sunday school and Armenian language class. Gabel doesn't think a one-hour language lesson a week will make them fluent, but it's the exposure that matters, Gabel said.
Many of the people she's met through St. Akbar have become her friends. They or their families cameto the United States at different times over the century, some from Armenia directly and some from different countries where the diaspora has reached — Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, Israel. They bring different languages, dialects and even versions of the same food.
"There's a saying, anywhere in the world should two Armenians meet, they form a new Armenia," Gabel said. "And it feels like that. Everyone regards each other as family, whether you know them five minutes or five years."
Recipe: Tabbouleh
As told by Tammy Krikorian Gabel.
Serves: 12
Ingredients:
- 1 cup fine bulgur
- 4 large bunches parsley, chopped
- 1 large bunch of mint, chopped (or ½ cup dry)
- 2 bunches of chopped green scallions
- 6 firm, ripe tomatoes, finely chopped
- 1 cup olive oil
- ¾ cup lemon juice
- 1 teaground allspice
- Salt and pepper to taste
Place bulgur in a bowl, cover with cold water and set aside. Thoroughly rinse and dry parsley and remove from stems before chopping. Place chopped parsley, mint, scallions and tomatoes in a large bowl. Drain bulgur, squeeze out excess liquid, and mix with the chopped produce. Add lemon juice, oil, allspice, salt and pepper and mix to combine. Add additional lemon juice and salt to taste.
Reach the reporter at Priscilla.Totiya@azcentral.com. Follow @priscillatotiya on Twitter and Instagram.
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