When visiting Armenia, and Vayots Dzor specifically, food lovers cannot miss out on buried cheese. You may have never gotten to try buried cheese before, but we promise, it’s worth the effort! In the spring, villagers extract milk with a high fat concentration from cows, goats or sheep. The milk is immediately fermented and strained and later brined for 40 to 60 days. Following its long hiatus in brine, women mix the pre-strained cheese with local herbs and spices, which often include thin layers of sliced hot peppers and pieces of tarragon. Once various spices have been mixed into the cheese, it is densely pressed into clay or glass containers. Special holes, dug to a depth of 60 centimeters, and usually found in basement cellars, become the new homes for these cheese-filled containers. The containers are placed above a layer of ash, usually brought over from a tonir, and are snugly buried in the hole. The cheese is kept buried underground from mid-summer to late autumn to ensure it blends with the delicious spices and herbs that had been applied pre-burial.
A man proposing a toast with a shot of vodka (Photo by Stephanie Moore, My Armenia Program, Smithsonian Institution and USAID)
Now that you’ve tried the local food, it’s time to try the local drinks.You cannot visit Vayots Dzor without tasting locally produced fruit vodkas. Fruit vodkas flourish in Vayots Dzor. You can taste grape, plum, apple, apricot, maple, wild pear, berry, and even rosehip-flavored vodka! Despite the ubiquit
of vodka today, during the Gorbachev years, the Soviet government banned the distillation of vodka.
Homemade vodka production blossomed during perestroika and the early 1990s. The Soviet government’s strict regulation of alcohol production, unsuccessful economic reform, and the failure of agriculture institutions drove alcohol production to villagers’ backyards.
Every large gathering includes abundant amounts of homemade vodka. Take for example one man’s homecoming from mandatory military service, where his family in Rind village celebrated with 60 liters of homemade vodka!
Toasting with vodka is a common practice during social gatherings. But be cautious, sipping vodka is socially unacceptable; you must drink the whole shot in one gulp! In the village of Malishka, three shots of vodka must be drunk during dinner: one for success, one for avoiding misfortune, and one for God’s blessings. If you stop on the second shot, the one related to misfortunes, bad luck will follow you!
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