Enjoy your trip through vegan local food experiences

Discovering the Best Vegan Local Food Experiences: A Traveler's Guide

Exploring local vegan cuisine can be a great way to experience a new culture, expand your culinary horizons and reduce your carbon footprint while traveling. Many traditional Armenian plant-based dishes have been passed down for generations and offer a unique and flavorful twist on familiar foods. As an added benefit, by supporting local vegan restaurants and food vendors, you support local communities and farmers. 

Why you Should Try Vegan Local Food

Although meat has traditionally been a staple in Armenian cuisine, there has been an increasing shift toward vegetarian and vegan dishes in which flavorful and nutritious fruits, vegetables, legumes, grains and spices shine. At most restaurants, you can find several delicious vegan and farm to table options; meanwhile, vegan-friendly restaurants are beginning to pop up in Yerevan. In this post, we will explore some of the best vegan meals and side dishes to try while you’re here! 

What Vegan Dishes to Try in Armenia

That’s a wrap

Tolma is a delicious dish made by stuffing grape leaves, cabbage leaves or vegetables like eggplant, peppers and tomatoes with various fillings. While the traditional recipe typically includes ground meat, there are many delicious variations that are vegetarian or vegan. One popular alternative uses marinated grape leaves with a filling of spiced rice. Another, called Lenten tolma (Pasuts tolma), is typically eaten in the weeks leading up to Easter. This variation uses cabbage leaves with a filling of spiced beans and lentils. If you get a dinner invite from a local, say yes! Tolma will probably be on the menu as either a side or main dish. Ask to take part in the preparation process and see if you can wrap the perfect roll (it’s not as easy as it looks)! Then, reward yourself with a glass of Armenian wine.

The tastiest pumpkin you’ll ever eat

Typically served during special occasions, ghapama is so beloved in Armenia that it even has a song dedicated to it! The dish consists of a hollow pumpkin stuffed with a mixture of boiled rice, dried fruits, nuts and spices. Ghapama is baked until it is tender and fragrant, (optionally) garnished with butter, honey and cinnamon, and sliced into pieces. Delicious and visually stunning, it’s the centerpiece of any festive table. During the autumn months, you may find a harvest festival with ghapama in many regions of Armenia.

Well-bread

A staple in nearly every meal, lavash is a thin, unleavened bread typically cooked in a tonir (a stone oven). While most lavash is now made in modern ovens, the traditional baking process is worth watching. Lavash is most delicious when it’s hot and fresh. It also serves as a great wrap (brduj) for herbs, vegetables, sauces or whatever’s on the table. Try making a brduj as a road trip snack!

On this note, you shouldn’t leave Armenia without trying zhengalov hats, a flatbread filled with greens. Watch women chop up more than ten different types of herbs and fold them into the dough. You’ll want to try this snack fresh from the griddle.

Herbs, greens and pickles

The herbs that fill zhengalov hats are also delicious on their own, in soups, sauteed or scrambled with eggs. In the early spring months, village women go out to gather greens from the fields. The gathering experience is fun in itself – in Vanadzor, you can join them and pick your own. Delicious and nutritious greens include yeghinj (nettle), sibegh, beet greens, tarragon and aveluk.

Aveluk, also known as "mountain spinach" or "sorrel," is a leafy green vegetable native to the Armenian highlands. Traditionally, after gathering the leaves, women weave them into long braids and dry them for sale in the market or for winter use in their own kitchens. If you visit in June, check out the annual aveluk festival in the village of Vardenik!

You can’t leave Armenia without trying tangy and savory pickles (“ttu”), a beloved addition to most meals. The pickling process involves preserving vegetables in a mixture of vinegar, salt, and spices, which enhances their flavor and extends their shelf life. The most common pickled vegetables include cucumbers, cauliflower, carrots, tomato, garlic, okra and peppers. Garlic stems and cornelian cherries are unique and delicious too. 

 
On the grill

While Armenia’s most famous khorovats (barbeque) dishes center around beef and pork, vegetables make a delicious substitute. Try mushrooms, eggplant, tomatoes, peppers, garlic and onions straight from the grill. Khaviar, a spread frequently enjoyed with lavash, is made from spices and blended barbequed vegetables.

Sweet tooth

In Armenia, there are plenty of vegan options for satisfying your sweet tooth! Most of them are fruit-based. Depending on the season, you can hand-pick an abundance of fresh fruits including apples, grapes, cherries, plums, figs, pomegranates, peaches and maybe the most famous, apricots. (Did you know that the apricot has always been associated with Armenia? The genus and species is prunus armenicus or “Armenian plum” in Latin!)

Soujoukh is an Armenian sausage, but its sweet version by the same name is vegan! The tasty snack is made by stringing walnuts on a thread and dipping them in fruit (usually grape) syrup. Soujoukh makes a great energy bar while hiking. Dried fruits and fruit leather (called ttu lavash, or sour lavash) are also fresh and energizing options. Fruit preserves (mourabah) are a popular addition to tea, but delicious on their own. Favorites include cinnamon-scented walnut mourabah or sweet raspberry mourabah. Near the Dendropark in Stepanavan, they even sell spicy baby pinecone mourabah!

The tea experience

Once you have your mourabah, you need a cup of tea to drink it with! Armenian wildflowers and mountain herbs like thyme, basil, rose petal, rose hip or chamomile make for delicious and healthy brews.

We recommend visiting the Aksel Bakunts House-Museum in mountain-ringed Goris. Bakunts was a famous Armenian author who wrote lovingly about his beautiful hometown. He also had a penchant for tea. At the museum, you can participate in a tea ceremony and learn about the significance of the samovar, a large Russian teapot which was used traditionally in Armenia as well.

In sum, veganism is on the rise in Armenia. With a growing number of vegan options available, it is easier than ever for plant-based eaters to enjoy the rich and flavorful cuisine of this beautiful country.