NOURISHMENT

A traditional Armenian “salad,” and I put this in quotations because it could be made into a salad or be eaten the way I’m going to describe now. When I was a child, summer days were spent outside all day, running around the neighborhood, playing handball and hide and seek. When it was time to come home, I would come home to a table set up with watermelon cut into triangle pieces with the rim on, Valbreso feta cheese, warmed pita bread and sprigs of fresh mint. The culmination of all of these scents are so fresh and nostalgic for me. You would take the pita bread, add a few pieces of the Valbreso feta cheese, add a few pieces of fresh mint, roll up the pita into a tightly packed roll and voila, dinner.

Now to eat this, you first take a bite of the sandwich, then after a few chews, take a bite of the watermelon. The combination of the salt from the feta cheese and the refreshing watermelon juice is incredible and the mint adds another level of freshness. Now of course you can make this into salad by just cubing the watermelon or even using a melon baller, adding crumbled feta cheese and chopped mint – absolutely mouth-watering delicious!

Another salad that I often make during the summer is one that stores really well in the refrigerator for 3-4 days and this is why I make a big batch! You can find the recipe on the next page.