The Sun (Lowell, Massachusetts)
July 29, 2007 Sunday

Taste of Armenia, taste of charity

by Kathleen Pierce, The Sun, Lowell, Mass.

Jul. 29–LOWELL — It’s not just a burger.

Sure, the spiced losh kebabs grilling in the sun at JFK Plaza look
like all-American patties, but these morsels have a story.

"This is like a universal language. We get to share a piece of
history with everyone who walks by," said Tom Vartabedian, a
Haverhill resident manning the grill at the Armenian Relief Society
tent.

Like most men fanning the flames yesterday, he knows it will get hot.
But the cause is mighty. This small chapter, made up of 20 women in
the Merrimack Valley, have raised enough money in years past to open
a hospital back home. Their homeland is a former Soviet republic,
invaded by Russians and Turks, and ransacked by earthquakes. Selling
food at the Lowell Folk Festival is their way of helping their
less-fortunate kin.

Their eyes become glassy when they talk about Armenia. They cannot
forget the genocide of 1915, still not widely recognized.

"There isn’t one person here who was not touched by it," Vartabedian
said.

Their food, a spicy

Middle Eastern cuisine, is often confused for Turkish. But at the
Folk Festival it gets its due. To the core members of Society’s
Lousintak chapter, it will always be the taste of childhood.

"This is made in every Armenian home," said Rose Narzakian, at 85 one
of the group’s elders.

Her story is the story of Armenia. Her mother narrowly escaped
execution. Migrating from Armenia during the genocide, her
grandmother wasn’t so lucky.

"They shot her at the border," said Narzakian, a Lowell native.

Instead of wallowing in anger, they channel their energy into
fundraisers like the festival. By festival’s end, they hope to pull
in about $8,000, sending about $5,000 to an Armenian orphanage.

Like many people working the ethnic food booths, these women met in a
church basement days before the event. Chatting over pans of spinach
pita and rolling grape leaves, you’d think they were back in the
villages their parents hailed from. Villages that have been wiped off
the map.

They hope their efforts will do some good back home, but in the
meantime, the payoff is instant.

"I’ve been in line for 15 minutes because there’s nothing like a losh
kebab," said Ed Mackness, of Lowell.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress