The 19th of February Hovhannes Tumanyan's birthday is officially considered as the book-giving day. He, the Poet of all Armenians did not like when they asked him for taking a book at all, and on his bookcase there was a note saying: “Don’t ask for books.” But as an irony of fate the official book-giving day got connected with his name forevermore.
There is so much written and will so much be written about Tumanyan's life and works. But there are some facts about his everyday life and preferences about which most of us do not know. So on his birthday we've decided to write about some of his preferences about food field.
Being one of the genius sons of Armenian nation he lived quite a simple life, enjoying all the colors and tastes of village life. Among the favorite meals of the poet, there was a type of gata called ”Agdak“ which used to be prepared in the villages of Lori.
Tumanyan also liked dishes with aveluk, used to enjoy unab, leblebi, qishmish raisins. The most favorite sort of apple is”Aghdagh“.
Very few knows that Tumanyan was a fish-lover too. Moreover, he liked to prepare by himself. Even there is a recipe written by him: “Spice the fish, wrap ин newspapers and grill in an oven.” Among wines he preferred “Madeira”, and used to drink coffee with cognac.
For those who gift books: The online reservation system Reservin gave rise to an action called “Present a book to a soldier”. This day can be considered as a great opportunity to join the action.
P.S.- Reservin.am thanks the Museum of H. Tumanyan for giving some important information.
