During a regular session of UNESCO in Bali on November 22-29, Turkey achieved that harissa was included in the “Non-Material Heritage” list of UNESCO by the name of Keşkek as a Turkish national dish. The Turkish “Hürriyet” also wrote about it and the recipe of cooking Keşkek is presented in detail on the UNESCO website.
According to Wikipedia, harissa is an Armenian ceremonial dish that was cooked for weddings, national holidays in the ancient times.
Social anthropologist Hranush Kharatyan expressed her surprise during a conversation with “Aravot” that harissa had been considered as a Turkish dish, whereas it is characteristic of other peoples in the region too. Ruzanna Tsaturyan said in turn that she, as a social anthropologist, was inclined to thinking that one could not say about any dish that it was absolutely Armenian. On the other hand, according to her, one cannot deny that we have ceremonies related to harissa, “Harissa figures importantly in our culture, meal system, however, we cannot limit anybody else’s claims to that dish.” The social anthropologist proposes to adopt respective legal regulations on registering national dishes.
Gohar Hakobyan
