In his classic 1944 cookbook, Dinner at Omar Khayyam’s, Armenian American chef and restaurateur George Mardikian explains step one for making yogurt at home in the United States: “Just open any telephone book and find a name ending with ‘ian.’ Go to that person’s address, knock on the door, and ask the Armenian who opens it for a cup of madzoon [yogurt].”
The fact that you could count on just about any “-ian” to have a batch of yogurt in the fridge—in the 1940s, no less, when many Americans were unfamiliar with the ingredient—explains just how important a food it is in my culture.
One of our most beloved uses for yogurt is in the grain-enriched soup known as tanabour, or spas. (“Tan” is a yogurt drink, and “abour” means “soup”; “spas” comes from the verb “spasarkel,” which means “to serve,” referring to the fact that the dish requires a spoon.) Everyone I serve this soup to is wowed by its silky consistency and savory-tart flavor, even those unfamiliar with eating yogurt in