-= Armenian Food Fair =-

[MosJan]

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Photograph by Skye Dunlap

 

Sue Sevhonkian (left) and Annahis Kalpakian (right) prepare khadaiff, which consists of shredded dough, butter and either cream or a hot filling, for the upcoming Armenian Food Fair at St. Andrew Armenian Church.

 

Church serves kebabs at Armenian Food Fair

 

 

By Kelle Shilacci

 

The Ladies Society at St. Andrew Armenian Church is very busy this week. In fact, for more than 30 years, September has been a notoriously busy month for the parish as members prepare for their annual Armenian Food Fair.

 

Free to the public, this year's fair--featuring a large variety of homemade Armenian food and pastries-- is set for 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Sept. 25 in the church hall.

 

There will be traditional items like the barbecued luleh kebab, rice pilaf, tabouleh and grape-leaf sarma. And if customers don't know the difference between their kufta and lahmajoon, the chefs and organizers will be happy to guide them through the delicacies.

 

"The cheese boureg is always a favorite," organizer H. Ronnie Henesian said. "We used to use phyllo dough, but now we use puff pastry, which makes the process faster, and more uniform. And it tastes just as good."

 

Henesian has been behind the scenes of this annual event for long enough to know. She's been there from the beginning, since the founding of the Armenian social group more than 40 years ago, back when Cupertino was known for its booming apricot and prune harvests rather than its Apple computers. The social group soon became a parish assembly, meeting in borrowed churches and private homes until finally settling into its very own acreage at 11370 S. Stelling Road on July 15, 1973.

 

If there's one thing that hasn't changed through all this growth and expansion, it's the effort put into the Society's biggest annual fundraiser.

 

"The Ladies Society does most of the cooking," Henesian said, "but it's really a collaborative effort. The youth groups help out, and the Parish Council likes to get behind the barbecue. Other members will donate food at the time of the event."

 

Henesian beams when discussing her parish, speaking very highly about the community and the warmth.

 

"Most of us are transplanted back-Easters," she explains, "but there have been a number of families who have come to the area from overseas just in the past 20 years, escaping their homelands in favor of more opportunity. They are all highly motivated, and education is paramount."

 

Which explains why, after over four decades, the ladies of St. Andrew's still make the time each September to gather together in the steamy church kitchen to churn out those kuftas (Armenian stuffed meatballs) and khadayifs (sesame-covered breakfast rolls.)

 

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The Armenian Food Fair is from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Sept. 25 at St. Andrew Armenian Church, 11370 S. Stelling Road. For more information, call (408) 257-6743.

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Armenian Food Fair

[MosJan]

Food fair promises tastes to delight

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By BARBARA DOHENY

 

Even a church cookbook is getting a boost these days from the Internet.

 

With a listing on Amazon.com, The New Armenian Kitchen published by the St. Andrew's Ladies Society in Cupertino, sold more than 1,000 copies in less than a year and generated orders from across the country.

 

By midsummer the cookbook was ranked third most popular among Armenian books on Amazon.com's sales listings.

 

Cooks across the country are discovering recipes that for 20 years have drawn hundreds to the annual Food Fair at St. Andrew Armenian Church in Cupertino.

 

This year's Food Fair is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 9, at the church's community hall at 11370 South Stelling Road. Homemade pastries, meat and vegetarian dishes will be offered, and admission is free. There is even a takeout menu.

 

Many of the church's recipes are literally thousands of years old. As noted in the cookbook, Armenia was a crossroads of the ancient Middle East, and its cuisine incorporates staples from the Christian, Jewish and Moslem communities.

 

Familiar dishes include lamb and chicken kebabs, savory rice and bulgar pilafs, and baklava dessert dripping with honey and nuts. Health food devotees will find hummus and tabbouleh fillings in pita bread.

 

There will also be delicate pastries filled with meat, vegetables or cheese (boureg and choreg), cheese-free Armenian-style pizza (lahmejun) and tahn, a yogurt drink.

 

The cookbook includes 450 recipes handed down through families in the church or borrowed from friends and relatives on the East Coast. In some cases, Ladies Society members took down recipes by observing older women preparing dishes at home.

 

"I had recipes submitted to me on the backs of old envelopes," said cookbook editor Veronica Sarkissian. "I feel like we're writing history, in a way."

 

Sharing the Armenian heritage is the major goal of the cookbook, which hails from the kitchen of a church established in Santa Clara Valley in 1962, but drawing on a religious tradition going back to the third century.

 

The sanctuary near the corner of Stelling Road and Rainbow Drive incorporates elements of the one of the world's oldest cathedrals in its architecture. Its arched windows and airy rotunda frequently attract architectural students from San Jose State University.

 

The site itself incorporates recent local history. When the church purchased it in 1974, after a dozen years of sharing worship space with others, there was only a small ranch house, a barn and some horses. Orchards extended down Stelling Road.

 

H. "Ronnie" Henesian, a founding member and longtime Ladies Society leader, recalls renovating the house to include a sanctuary and community hall, where delicious meals were prepared and shared by all.

 

The congregation's priest, Fr. Vazken Movsesian, was on his first assignment and initially stunned by the prospect of leading a community with a barn but no sanctuary, she said. He stayed for 14 years and led the community to build a beautiful church but keep the atmosphere of home, she added.

 

"We were very happy there," she said. "The church is not just a religious edifice, it's a home for the Armenians in Santa Clara Valley."

 

Even the evolution of the cookbook follows something of the Valley's current history. Sarkissian credits her computer-savvy son with providing the tools and the training she needed to design the book."He bought me the computer and put me on this 'DSL,' " Sarkissian said. "If it weren't for my husband and my son, that book wouldn't have gotten written."

 

One of the hardest tasks was obtaining an ISBN number for the book so it could be sold commercially, Sarkissian added.

 

Her perseverance paid off as the book scooted up Amazon.com's sales rankings, at one point breaking into the top 10,000 books selling through the online retailer.

 

The recipes are all authentic, but have been altered to involve a little less butter, oil and salt. Several families' versions of the same dish are frequently included to honor different traditions, Sarkission said. Each cook's name is given with her recipe.

 

"All of us have one thing we've done a lot of," said Henesian, shrugging off compliments.

 

The collection of recipes is accented every few pages with pithy Armenian proverbs, geographical and language notes and quotes about the country.

 

There is an index arranged conveniently by ingredients, such as lentils or eggs and types of food, such as casseroles or desserts. The spiral-bound volume lays flat easily and features a bright, glossy cover that can be wiped clean.

 

At the back is a glossary of Armenian food terms, a page on the use of spices, charts of measurements and substitutions, even "Household Hints" and "99 Ways You Can Save the Planet." There is a complete section of meatless dishes.

 

The ladies say they hope it will be a frequent gift for new brides and youngsters finding their way around their first kitchen away from mom's house.

 

Many of the recipes involve a half-dozen ingredients and only basic cooking skills. Some of the more complicated projects include dolmas, or filled grape leaves, and phyllo dough, a many-layered, flaky pastry pocket used with a variety of fillings.

 

"Look at the ingredients first," Sarkissian advised beginners. "Find simple things that you're used to working with."

 

The cookbook can be purchased at the Food Fair and at The Armenian Gourmet restaurant in San Jose. Organizers estimate 500 people attended last year's Food Fair and advise arriving early for the best selection.

 

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Armenian Food Fair 2000, Sept. 9, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., St. Andrew Armenian Church, 11370 S. Stelling Road, Cupertino. Call ahead for takeout orders at 408/ 246-6247, or fax orders to 408/257-1840. Wheelchair accessible.

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