Yerevan Food Fest

Nowadays tourism is getting more and more popular in Armenia. Therefore, gastro tourism here is not popular enough yet. Thus, industry experts do the first steps in this direction. One of those steps is Yerevan Food Fest.

About the Fest

21 -23rd of September the Yerevan Food Fest is taking place in Armenia. The city will become a perfect place for gourmands. The fest will include different master classes and presentations.

Info for those, who are going to visit Armenia these days. Yerevan Food Fest will last three days. First two will be full of master classes and workshops for all interested in and for all professionals. To participate just visit “The LOFT”.

Participants and speakers

Among the speakers are leading professionals such as Anna Yelovikova (head of the association of North Caucasus restaurant and hotel-owners), Anna Dzyuba (popular gastro-blogger), Lilith Harutyunyan (owner of “Dolmaster” and the brand-chief), as well as journalists, restaurant-owners, and experts.

The final open space event of Yerevan Food Fest will take place at the English park in Yerevan. Here also everybody will have a chance to meet experts, chefs, field professionals, and gourmands. Chiefs of Salon Armenian, Dragon Garden, Crumbs and other popular restaurants will host master-classes and workshops. There will be representatives of Hans&Franz, Rafaello, Tsirani, Ingredient, Pub 37 and other restaurants.

30 restaurants will also take part of this event. They will represent not only their most popular dishes but also the special menu created for the fest. Dishes included in this menu will be cheaper than others with a special “festival” price.

At the park, besides of restaurants and workshops, you can find play-zone for children, musicians, photo-zone provided by Marashlyan PhotoStudio.

The message of “Yerevan Food Fest”

Yerevan Food Fest is a unique platform, where they can discuss problems and renovations of the industry, professional exchange and create new business contacts. The most important message of the fest is that Yerevan could become a perfect place for this kind of events, cultural exchanges. Above all, this might be a nice motivation for restaurants to be renovated and the gastro tourism to become more and more popular.

This is also a nice chance for tourists to taste typical Armenian dishes by new interpretations.

 

Specialist’s opinion

Economics specialist, a consultant for hotel and restaurant business, food blogger and the head of “Food Fest” Anna Mazmanyan says Newsarmenia.am Armenia has a huge gastronomic potential.

“Our cuisine is a rich one, formed within hundreds of years. It is stated historically. Armenia has a huge potential, but we must use it in a right way. Unfortunately, nowadays Armenia does not have its own gastronomic product”, expert says.

She compares this situation with the kitchen when a woman, who has no practice in cooking, has fresh products, high-tech kitchen but she doesn’t know what to do with them. The same Armenia has almost no experience with gastro tourism management.

We don’t really imagine what gastro tourism is, Mazmanyan says. “Before we speak about this industry like about independent one, we have to work hard both on ourselves and with the public”.

We must be proud of the history of our cuisine, the diversity of products and ways of use. If we will use all this potential in a right way combining with gastro tourism, we can suggest interesting holidays to every tourist.

“Imagine tours, where they tell about the typical dishes of each region. And all this is mixed with legends and stories about each region. For example, French people systematized their national gastronomic potential, worked on it from the scientific point”, Mazmanyan says.

What can we improve

According to an expert, Armenian chiefs make many mistakes in making their gastronomical cuisine. “You can easily see they don’t have any basis. For example, take tolma, the truest national dish. You cannot serve it with small portions. This contradicts our nature. It would be more interesting to improve it changing or adding ingredients.

Anna Mazmanyan thinks the right way would be to improve products. “For example, the meat. The same could be with improving different kinds of butter. We need to think about putting parallels between the dishes and wines. This is another topic, but in gastronomical improved countries, this is also an important part”.

The market must understand, that if you don’t have good products, you don’t have a good restaurant. Our problem is that the customer doesn’t really understand which kind of products they serve him. He pays attention to the location of the restaurant and keeps going there. I hope, we will go over this evolution, Anna Mazmanyan says.