Horovats

Today we had our first taste of Armenian Barbecue, which people here call Horovats. This translates fairly well: verb used for this particular method of cooking is "horovel", or literally, "to barbecue". The adjectival form of this verb is "horovats", which translated into "barbecued". Thus "horovats" as a noun is "barbecued (food)". I know, describing the grammatical etymology of the name of the food isn't nearly as interesting as describing the food itself, but there's a reason I'm focusing on grammar. 

The truth is I don't like horovats. It's terrible, but there it is. We sat down to the table, and a chunk of meat the size of a large grapefruit was plopped in front of me. It had veins of fat and gristle running through it. There were no utensils. We eat horovats with our hands, they said. I looked at the smiling faces of our hosts, eager to share this piece of their culture with us. I knew what I must do.

I had to Daenerys Stormborn it up and eat that horse heart (it was actually just pork meat). I worked my jaw until it was sore getting through that chunk of meat. Sam helped with my portion. But in the end, we got through it and emerged victorious. 

We went home, and I immediately took some prophylactic peptobismol.