The salt cured olives were very black and wrinkled and had a bitter taste that grew on you. Other olives compared to them seemed to have no taste at all. The Armenian families who fled Turkey due to the severe oppression by the Turks during the late 19th century and the early 20th century, brought with them to this country and other countries throughout the world, not only their own cookery, but that of the Turks. This explains the obviously Turkish names for many of the dishes adopted by the Armenians. Similarities of dishes also include the Greeks, Syrians, Jews, Iraqis and Iranians.
Some similarities are also evident in the cooking of North Africa and of Eastern Europe.
The spices used in the Middle East are generally common from one country to the next, but the main spices and herbs used in Armenian cooking are garlic, basil, rosemary, parsley, onion, mint, allspice, paprika, cumin, sesame seeds, lemons and olive oil. Another spice frequently used in Armenian cooking was called chaimen. This was a blend of spices composed mainly of cumin, allspice, fenugreek, black pepper and paprika. Salt in Armenia was scarce and thus expensive, so lemon juice was a healthful substitute. The absence of salt and thus iodine was evident in the number of women with goiters, a thyroid deficiency.