Saturday, January 11, 2014

Armenian 'fast food'


I make as many journeys as I can to the Armenian food market in Belmont Massachusetts. Today I happened to ask them if I could buy one lamejun which is an Armenian form of pizza. Normally you have to buy these Armenian pizzas in boxes of 12 but they never seem to withstand the freezer very well so I only wanted one that I would eat for dinner tonight. The young Armenian fella behind the counter hemmed and hawed and then he went to the back and said 'let me see what I can do for you'. His disappearance into the back of the store created a long line of people wanting to check out behind me but I sat patiently and waited for him. Finally he reappeared with one lamejun in a piece of waxed paper and placed it on the counter, saying 'be careful it's warm'. What was going to be my dinner quickly turned into excitement to have it for lunch and I proclaimed to him 'yeah I can't wait to eat this in the car!'

Lamejun is a very thin piece of lavash bread that has been covered with spiced ground lamb, peppers and some tomato. It is baked in the oven until the lamb is cooked and the edges of the lavash are slightly crispy. This particular market, named Eastern Lamejun, makes their own Lamejuns daily,  and having arrived at the store just about noon I was still able to get a fresh one from this morning. So in my car I opened up the Bulgarian feta that I had bought and I sprinkled some on top of the lamejun, And then I folded it in half and I enjoyed, remembering meals from childhood  of lamejuns with my father, brother and grandparents.

**i put the business card in the photo so you could get a rough idea of the size of a lamejun

Eastern Lamejun Bakers
145 Belmont St
Belmont, Ma

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