The Armenian Culture Analysis

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Armenian Culture In the Armenian culture Armenian people seem to have a passion for food more then American people do. Peter Balakian tells us how his Armenian family “would get together on a Sunday for big family gatherings around the dining room table to have lunch or dinner for a full afternoon and more.” Balakian did not know much about his Armenian culture and every time he would ask his parents to find out a little more information his parents would just not give a direct answer. Usually they would tell him its an abandoned country in the past. Since he has practically lived in the United States his whole life, he only seems to know what the American style food is. He was deprived from this authentic culture and in a way would feel lost with his extended Armenian family. Food was a way for Balakian to connect and discover his true background about himself. …show more content…
Balakian’s mom would have these days were fast food was the meal for the night, but even their fast food was fancy in there cultural. For Americans they would never consider lahmajoon (An Armenian dish) as fast food. Balakian claims in the text “our neighbors were masters of the five-minute dinner, which consisted of minute steaks, four inch square of beef thin as linoleum and served with potato puffs.” Balakian’s mom would never go that low into making a dish. The most American dish she makes still involves some kind of Armenian food. When it comes to Armenian food they would take it very seriously. Balakian’s tells us that his mom had this “strong passion for food that was cultural and temperamental.” It what makes them who they are. When having dinner Balakian describes his parents as “becoming about the propriety and ritual of dining.” They ate dinners properly and took rituals of dining very serious. There was never a moment that Balakian’s mom was not getting up from any family gathering to fill up all the platters of food (Balakian 1951,