A PEOPLE REMEMBERED

 

The U.S. bishops’ conference issued a statement on Monday recognizing the upcoming anniversary of the Armenian genocide.

“April 24 is Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day, marking the 1915 start of a campaign that resulted in the death of as many as 1.2 million Armenian Christians -- victims of mass shootings, death marches to distant camps, torture, assaults, starvation, and disease,” stated Bishop David Malloy of Rockford, chair of the USCCB’s international justice and peace committee.

Thousands of Armenian children were torn from their families and forcibly converted. “This horrific tragedy was intended to eliminate the Armenian people and their culture in what has been called the ‘first genocide of the 20th century.

Over the span of eight years, the Ottoman Empire targeted the mostly Christian Armenian minority for mass displacement, family separation, death marches, mass shootings, starvation, and other abuses. An estimated 1.5 million Armenians were killed in the genocide.

 

Turkey has historically denied that the genocide took place, claiming that the number of Armenian deaths was lower than estimated, and that many deaths were due to the First World War.

 

In April 2015, Pope Francis called the genocide one of “three massive and unprecedented tragedies” of the 20^th century. In 2016, he prayed for peace following his trip to Armenia. “A people that suffered so much throughout its history, and faith alone, faith has kept this people on its feet.”

 

In a common declaration in 2000, Pope St John Paull II and Supreme Armenian Patriarch Karekin II also recognized the genocide.

“The extermination of a million and a half Armenian Christians, in what is generally referred to as the first genocide of the twentieth century, and the subsequent annihilation of thousands under the former totalitarian regime are tragedies that still live in the memory of the present-day generation,” the declaration stated.

A genocide denied is a genocide repeated!

Why do I bring this all up?  As sad as it may be, and a period in history that did not effect my family directly, my mother, the best cook I ever knew,  grew up in Fresno with displaced Armenians who came to this country for a better life.  She literally learned to cook some of my family’s favorite dishes from her neighbors.  One was the daughter of a world class cook, whose cookbook, written over 70 years ago, I still have and use.

I am speaking of GEORGE MAGAR MARDIKIAN (1903- 1977) who opened Omar Khayyam's restaurant in San Francisco, in 1938. He was a nephew of  Armenian revolutionary Krikor Amirian. 

His small cookbook gives a glimpse of the man and his love for his country.  Who in the US in the 40s and 50s ever heard of yogurt, but he says if you need it for one of the recipes, go to the phone book and look up a name that ends in "ian", and knock on their door with cup in hand!   

One of my favorite meals, and the one my mother always made me when I returned home for college breaks, was his lamb shanks.  My two brothers and I would walk a mile for a good piece of lamb and my last thanksgiving at home with all the family included this lamb dish, along with the turkey.

But back to this great cook.

George’s father, Magar, was of one of the approximately 250 ethnic-Armenian intellectuals and community leaders arrested on April 24, 1915, known as Red Sunday. After his arrest, the Amirians were driven out of their homes and marched to Erzincan. George's maternal grandmother, Vartanoush Amirian, committed suicide by jumping in the Euphrates, while the rest of the Amirian family was either beaten to death or burned alive. Witnessing the massacre of his mother's side of his family, George wanted to avenge their deaths. He ran away from home and joined the Armenian volunteer units, in which his uncle, Krikor Amirian, was a high-ranking member. After the First World War ended, George returned as a war hero.

Due to on-going political chaos, George’s mother told him to flee to the America and join a sister already there.  He arrived at Ellis Island on July 24, 1922. When he was able to take a shower, he stated, "I washed away the grime, I washed away the years. I washed away the Old World, I washed away all the hatred and injustice and cruelty I had known, all the hunger, all the weeping, all the pain”.

He later stated, "As I dried myself with the thick, heavy towel, and saw my clean skin and felt my blood tingle, it was as though I had been reborn, as though I were a completely new human being, a taller, a stronger, prouder man- an American”. From  that day, he proclaimed July 24 as his birthday.

He took the train to San Francisco and found a job working as a dishwasher at Coffee Dan's and later at Clinton's Cafeteria. He was later appointed restaurant manager by Eugene Compton.

In 1930, he moved to Fresno where he joined the vibrant Armenian immigrant community. He opened a lunch counter called "Omar Khayyam's", named after the famous Persian poet. He both cooked and waited on tables. His wife Nazenig (which means dainty in Armenian) was the greeter and cashier. 

Despite the ongoing Great Depression, customers filled his diner to enjoy his clam chowder, chili con carne, and pot roast. As he frequently noted, his dream was to teach Americans how to eat well.

He would later move his restaurant to two other large buildings in Fresno and then, in 1938, to the old Coffee Dan's building in San Francisco, where he earned praise from critics and locals alike.

In 1942, George was appointed as a food consultant to the Quartermaster General of the United States Army, a position that he would hold until 1954. He  would receive presidential commendations for the drastic changes that he made to the United States military. In 1944, he published a cook book, Dinner at Omar Khayyam's, that was reprinted numerous times over the next two decades.

In 1945, he donated his services as caterer for the United Nations Conference on International Organization that was held in San Francisco and established the United Nations. 

George made great efforts to bring his family to the US as well as other Armenians. Over 5,000 Armenians immigrated to the United States because of his efforts. 

In 1951, George was awarded the Medal of Freedom by President Harry S. Truman for his work as a consultant to the Quartermaster General of the United States Army- his salary was $1.00 a year. A portion of the citation reads, "With vigorous energy, keen powers of observation and analysis and a dynamic personality, he enlisted the enthusiastic interest of commanders and soldiers alike in the preparation and service of food under varying conditions in the combat zone."

He contributed to entrepreneurial and philanthropic causes, including the American National Committee to Aid Homeless Armenians

Omar Khayyam's' was located at 200 Powell Street in San Francisco in the basement of a building on the northeast corner of Powell Street and O'Farrell Street. Diners would descend into the cavernous, sumptuously decorated restaurant below.

Tables in the restaurant were contained in curtained chambers out of the Arabian Nights decorated with wall-hangings and inscriptions from The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam.

The menu was exotic (for the time), featuring a mix of Armenian, Middle Eastern, and African cooking adapted for American palates, yet foods that I was familiar with, even as a small child.  I was probably seven when my Aunt Jean (who often took me on business trips - having no children of her own).  I remember the scene well.  I wanted dolma and there were no dolma on the menu.  My Aunt told the waiter my request  and his reply, any child this age who knows dolma, will have  dolma. And so I did!

George was known as a culinary artist, but also as an American whose heart was filled sincerely and 110% with love for his adopted home.  He was always grateful for the opportunity to share this love with others.  “Over here the people don’t fight all the time. Look! When I came here I couldn’t speak the language. I had no money. Now I have money and fine homes. In my country I would be humiliated to be a cook; in America I am proud.”  He can be an example to not only new immigrants to our country, but to those born here, who take all its goodness for granted!

 He was buried at the Ararat cemetery in Fresno where the great American-Armenian writer William Saroyan rests.

We probably owe some of our favorite foods- shish kebab, dolma, and  pilaf  to this remarkable man.

“This wonderful land has been good to me. It has given me friends by the hundreds in all walks of life. I believe that in this society where love and mutual respect are fostered and encouraged, I must do more than contribute my share towards the material and the spiritual well being of all. I believe that friendship, which grows out of love and true humility, is the most important thing in life”.

The recipe:  KOUZOU KZARTMA (Roast Shank of Lamb)

4 shanks of lamb

4 large pieces of potato

2 tomatoes, quartered (you can use canned)

2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. paprika

2 cupfuls water

Place lamb in roasting pan: add tomatoes, salt, paprika and water. Cook 375  for ½ hour, turn meat and cook another 1/2 hour. Now add potatoes to same pan and roast with shanks for 30 minutes. Meat should cook for 2 hours all together. Serve with its own juice as gravy.