Those Nutty Armenians!

I love being Armenian. I feel like I've been blessed by being born into such a culturally rich group of people. Our history is long, and full of suffering and bloodshed, yet from this our group has learned to enjoy life to its fullest (in between trying to set up safe homes for our children in countries which didnt persecute us). Regardless, we have learned to enjoy the best of everything we can earn, think of what we have as the best, and strive for better. We have taught our children to appreciate the struggles our ancestors have endured. Through language, music (have you heard a duduk?), poetry and food, we provide ourselves with a warm quilt where each square of heritage has been contributed by an elder whom we respect.


So now you're wondering why my 'nutless life blog' is blabbing on about my rich heritage. Three out of four (the youngest three) of my children are half Irish and half Armenian. Since I didn't use to speak Armenian to them when my husband was home, I felt that I was depriving them of their rightful heritage. So at the ripe old ages of 7, 6 and 5 (call me crazy), I sent my three children to Saturday Armenian school. I felt that I would give them the tools with which to explore their heritage if they so chose to in the future. Also, I owe it to my ancestors. Well, sending kids to Saturday school sounds easy...but if you're Armenian (or any culture from around the middle east), you can assume that there will be plenty of nuts around (remember, not the human kind). If you can grind a nut and stick in in or on a food, its in ours.


Luckily, in Ontario, many schools follow Sabrina's Law, and have tried to provide allergen 'safe' schools and environments, so the school isnt so bad. I have volunteered to help out another class during Saturday school 'just in case' the epipen had to be used. Although I trained Liams teacher myself, neither one of us was comfortable with her confidence to use it properly. Although I have to let go and trust others, I still need a little time. To be fair, it is quite a responsibility to place on someone who isnt familliar with these things (Although she is a teacher by trade, she only arrived from Lebanon 1 year ago, and hadn't even heard of this). As I mentioned, this school strives to be a 'nut safe' school, yet I have had to throw out numerous peanut butter or nutella sandwhich, and nutty snacks. I bring nut free snacks just in case of such an event, so the child woudn't go hungry until the 1:15 pick up time.

Anyway, making a long story longer, providing an 'Armenian cultural experience' has been difficult for us. Liam, the 7 year old who is extremely anaphylactic (over the top IgE, and his first reaction was upper respiratory restriction with an immediate drop in bloodpressure within 2 minutes), not only is allergic to peanuts, but to all nuts, and to all legumes. Hmm....Armenians and nuts, I've explained the close connection. Now think about Armenians and legumes...lentils (we do everything with them), chick peas (HUMMUS, dried, candied, you name it). Nuts and Legumes are so prevalent in our culture, that non allergic Armenians dont even see them, they've become invisable fixtures in our kitchens.

So, we avoid Armenian functions with food (and our friends think we're being snobby and over the top cautious). My husband and I attended a dinner theatre production ran by the teachers association (and we were asked to bring the kids - but because we're such snobs and 'crazy cautious' we didnt). We walked in, and at the front door they were selling big bags of mixed nuts and seeds. Liam would have puffed up right there without walking in. Dont get me started on the food.


Yesterday I thought to myself, why not try to make some traditional Armenian food? My kids love it when my mom makes it, so wouldnt it be great to go to an Armenian or Middle eastern food market, get the ingredients and cook away? I'm speechless about the whole experience. Cross Contamination warning alarms started ringing all around me! Seriously, if something didnt have nuts in it, it was right next to something with nuts. I went through four brands of bulgur (cracked wheat), three of which had possible nut contamination warnings. I bought a spice called Mahleb (a seed to grind) for our braided sweet bread, and came home and scrubbed those poor wee seeds immediatly. I'll grind them when they've dried. People think I'm being ridiculous, and say...'there are no nuts in this or that!' but people forget that there are only a few large distributors of products, so the guy distributing and packaging the mixed nuts, is also packaging the barley on the same machines! I had a heck of a time buying shredded coconut once, and now I just skip any recipes with it.


It gets to the point where you've got to balance life with food. Armenians are food rich, but its not for everyone. I'll try to make my nut free or 'safe' food for my kids, I'll try to let them experience as much of their culture that is safe and allowable, but just as some people ache that their kids will miss out on the whole PB & J 'American' childhood, I ache that they'll miss out on hummus with pita, vospof keufteh, lebleboo, etc... Anyway, enough of my griping. I'm off to make my Yalangi Sarma (meatless wrapped grape leaves). Its my first time, but if turns out, I'll post the recipe!





Arda