Aubergines and Tallow from the Rump of a Fat-Rumped Sheep (Blog 2, 10-27-10) Updated and Illustrations Added, 12-21-10.

     As the Pleistocene Epoch (the last great ice age) was drawing to a close ca 10,000 years ago, early man was depending more and more upon horticulture and agriculture for his food supplies.
     Horticulture was based  upon the domestication of plants for a stable carbohydrate supply.  However, one significant problem was developing--lack of enough fats in the diet.  This may seem curious to many of us in modern societies where "fat" has taken on an odious connotation, almost evil in our conceptualization.  We tend to forget that fat is an essential conveyor of certain vitamins and minerals as well as a reserve store of energy in times of hunger and famine.
     In hunting and gathering societies, that preceded the rise of horticulture, there was apt to be a better balance in the food intake.  What the heck, if the system supplied only 75% of the calories required for survival, the Saber Tooth was probably going to get you anyhow?
     Still enough of our ancestors survived to force the issue.  If one ate enough carbs without sufficient fat, the craving for the latter would become insatiable.  Hence a spur toward agriculture, a combination of plant and animal domestication.  In colder climates carbs often came from tubers, but one of the fat supplying animals was swine.  Unfortunately, swine sometimes carried the parasite, trichinosis.  Climate along with cultural adaptations in meat preparation allowed a symbiotic relationship between mankind, tubers and swine.
     In warmer climates, particularly those with distinct wet and dry periods, as in southwest Asia, agriculture came to depend upon seasonal small grains.  No doubt gregarious swine were experimented with, but the temptation to eat the meat without thorough cooking led to disastrous results.  Food taboos originated early on so that pigs along with dogs became "unclean."   Fortunately trichinosis was not a problem with ruminants.  So cattle, camels, goats and sheep comprised "clean" sources of animal protein and fat.
     Domestication of sheep came early on in the Near East as well as in Central Asia and the Transcaucasus.  The need for fat appears to have pointed the course toward selective breeding of fat-rumped and fat-tailed varieties.  The Armenian wild sheep Ovis gmelini may have been the ancestor of the Karakul and other breeds of fat-rumped sheep found in the Transcaucasus and Central Asia.

Mount Ararat Symbol of the Armenian Homeland, Traditional

 Landing Spot for Noah's Ark

     On September 12, 1963, the American component of the Soviet-American Scientific-Technical Exchange Program spent a full day observing Soviet Armenian irrigation projects along the Sevan-Razdan Cascade.  This included some of the seventeen large sovkhozy (state farms) served by the Arak-Sevan Canal System.  Interestingly the Eghvard Sovkhoz produces rose oil, a very uncommunist like product.

Arznie-Shamiramaoskaya Canal, Mount Alagez,

Armenia's Highest Peak in Background

                                               

Lake Sevan Dominates the Shaded Topographic Map of Armenia

                            

An Autumnal Cloud Bank Above Lake Sevan

                               

     Through much of the day R. Bagramyan the Armenian Minister of Water Resources was our host and guide.  Late that afternoon, he took us to the shore line of beautiful Lake Sevan.  There among the willows next to the beach a seven-course banquet was being prepared for us.

A Seven Course Banqut on the Shore of Lake Sevan,

Minister Bagramyan in White Shirt at Left

                                
                         
     Seven courses?  To me, meat, potatoes and a dessert were just fine, but in that long ago and far away setting, was there any significance to seven courses?  The best the "www" could do was suggest that the courses represented "Seven Cardinal Virtues"--chastity, temperance, charity, diligence, patience, kindness and humility.  But in a Communist Setting?  Well forget that.
     Then from our lovely setting I look out along Lake Sevan.  There on a peninsula, that was an island before Stalin decided to lower the water level of Sevan, was Sevanavank (Monastery of Sevan) with its ancient church, Surb Arakelots (Holy Apostles) built in 874 AD.  Sevanavank was the place where wayward monks from Echmiadzin, the Vatican of the Orthodox Armenian Church, were sometimes sent for reformation.

The US Exchange Delegation Visits Echmiadzin, Center of the

Armenian Orthodox Church

                                                         

Echmiadzin Shows the Classic Armenian Church Architecture

                               

Interior of Echmiadzin, to Heighten Appreciation

for the Sacred Mystery of the Ancient Church, I

suggest Listening to Alan Hovhaness' Tone Poem,

"Echmiadzin"

                                               
     Perhaps the seven symbols were appropriate, reaching out to us from a more pastoral, pre-Bolshevik time.  I settled back to enjoy the many courses, at least until the final event.
     Instead of a sweet dish, our seventh course was a highly favored Armenian concoction, a slab of tallow from the rump of a fat-rumped sheep was placed between two slices of aubergine and broiled over a charcoal brazier.  Fortunately or unfortunately my intake of fat was adequate.  The second mouthful was all I could handle.  I could find no virtue to add the original seven which would force me into the third bite.

Aubergine (Eggplant) A Staple of Armenian Cusine

                                           

A Fat-Rumped Sheep Source of the Tallow Classic

Armenian Dish Described Above

                               
                                                             
     To end on the lighter side, I once saw an Armenian Restaurant called Noah's Kitchen.  I could only wonder how long Noah had to wait for the fat-rumped pair coming off the ark to produce enough offspring
to ensure a stable supply of tallow.