LA food folks: Nancy Mehagian, culinary memoirist (and masseuse to the stars)

How did a nice Armenian girl from Los Angeles end up growing vegetables in a London prison? In her culinary memoir, Siren’s Feast: An Edible Odyssey, Nancy Mehagian details the far-flung travels of her youth and reminisces about the tastes and smells she found abroad. She talks with us about Armenian food, why her mother shuns garlic, and what massage and cooking have in common.

See Nancy's recipe for keta (Armenian sweet breakfast rolls).

LA Cooking Examiner: You’re a first generation Armenian American. What kinds of traditional foods did you grow up with? Who did the cooking in your house?

Nancy Mehagian: My mother, now 94 years old, is a sensational cook who introduced Armenian cuisine to practically the whole of Phoenix, Arizona—the best shish kebab and rice pilaf on the planet. She did most of the cooking and I had to be in the kitchen to help.

Every special occasion called for sarma (stuffed grape leaves), dolma (lamb and rice-stuffed vegetables), kufta (a labor-intensive dish made from bulghur and ground lamb on the outside, then stuffed with onions, lamb, walnuts and parsley), paklava (delicate butter-drenched layers of filo dough with walnuts and simple syrup), as well as my all-time favorite, keta (rich, yeasted sweet breakfast rolls). My father always made the yogurt and loved to cook stews, either with lamb shanks or a vegetarian version made with onions, peppers, tomatoes and green beans.

LA Cooking Examiner: Tell us about Armenian food—the palate, a typical meal. Are there Armenian specialties you still make today?

Mehagian: Armenian cuisine is healthy and natural, relying on the flavors of the vegetables and lamb, rather than a lot of herbs and spices, though liberal amounts of mint are used. Count on lots of onions in nearly everything.

I prepare Armenian dishes often, since my friends and family have come to expect it. One of my favorite Armenian foods would be beorag. Our version is similar to the Greek spanokopita, but we use parsley instead of spinach and it’s layered in a baking dish—buttered filo dough filled with feta and jack cheese, an entire bunch of finely chopped parsley, and egg and milk poured over the top before baking. The result is almost quiche-like and it’s my favorite dish to serve at a party. People go crazy over it.

Since my memoir came out I’ve rolled hundreds of grape leaves for book clubs and book signings. I make the vegetarian version (yalanchi sarma) served cold and filled with rice, lots of onion and garlic, pine nuts, mint, dill and a little tomato sauce. They’re quite addictive.

Other dishes I prepare are pilaf, of course, with Uncle Ben’s rice, lots of butter and fresh chicken broth; and vosp kufta, an unusual vegetarian dish made from fine bulghur and red lentils. Unlike my mother, I add copious amounts of garlic. In her youth, as a member of one of the first few Armenian families in Pasadena, she was called a “garlic eater” by someone in such a derogatory manner that she shunned using garlic all her life.

LA Cooking Examiner: Where do you shop for authentic Armenian ingredients? What about Armenian restaurants—do you have a favorite?

Mehagian: Most middle Eastern markets sell filo dough, jars of grape leaves, bulghur, Armenian string cheese and other ingredients I use. Even the local supermarket in my neighborhood carries these items. I rarely go to Armenian restaurants when I eat out, but I do like Araz Restaurant in Studio City.

LA Cooking Examiner: Your book, Siren’s Feast: An Edible Odyssey, details your travels as a young woman through Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. What are your strongest food memories from that period?

Mehagian: The strongest food memories from my travels would have to be the time I spent in Morocco in the late 60’s. It is such an exotic country, their cuisine is so delicious and inventive and I do love spice in my life. At the time, before all the tourists discovered Morocco, everyone was smoking hashish and kif, which gives people ravenous appetites.  I loved wandering through the souks (covered labyrinth marketplaces) and seeing the mounds of herbs and spices piled up.

There is a spice called ras el hanout that contains anywhere from 47 to more than 100 different ingredients - turmeric and ginger to rose petals and galanga. Now I can’t live without it.

B’stilla, also called pigeon pie, is one of the great dishes in the world—only someone very stoned on hash could have created its superb combination of flavors. My friends all beg me to make it with its layers of crispy, buttery filo dough, a spicy chicken filling topped with custardy eggs scrambled with lemon juice, another layer of ground roasted almonds, cinnamon and sugar, then dusted with powdered sugar on the top. The sweet/savory combination is transformational. As we used to say, “It will blow your mind.”

LA Cooking Examiner: I’m not going to give the whole story away, but on your website it says that you were imprisoned in London and that while there you were able to “pioneer a new and healthy way of eating.” Really? In prison? Details please.

Mehagian: Let me say that a series of mishaps (or just simply poor judgment) during my youth led to a 16-month incarceration, along with my newborn baby, in the mother/baby ward of an infamous London prison. I was a vegetarian at the time. English cuisine was bad enough, but English prison food was truly disgusting, especially for a vegetarian. After enduring eight months of oatmeal gruel, hard-boiled eggs, boiled cabbage and potatoes, and Wonder bread, the Governor made me the prison gardener and I began growing my own vegetables. I then persuaded the prison doctor to order special foods for me and the only other vegetarian—soybeans, cottage cheese, barley, lentils—and we became the only prisoners in the entire place allowed to prepare our own meals. We then fought for and got whole wheat bread for the entire prison population.

LA Cooking Examiner: You write about food, but these days you work as a masseuse to celebs like Quincy Jones and the Eagles. Do cooking and bodywork go together somehow?

Mehagian: I’ve always loved working with my hands, including gardening.  I’ve planted an orchard in my backyard and all my clients (who over the years have become like beloved family members) get jars of my famous apricot jam every summer. Quincy Jones even stashes his jam in his own private refrigerator. Beyond that I am someone who needs to be physically active in order to feel good. So yes, cooking and bodywork go hand in hand. And it’s sheer joy for me to make someone feel good, whether it’s through feeding the body or rubbing the body.

LA Cooking Examiner: What’s your next book about?

Mehagian: So many people who contacted me after reading Siren’s Feast have said they didn’t want the book to end and are anxiously awaiting the next installment. So the next book is really a continuation, chronicling my 30-plus-year career as a Jin Shin Jyutsu practitioner and massage therapist in Hollywood, along with more global travels and recipes. I’m going to include the apricot jam next time.

LA Cooking Examiner: You’re home alone and it’s dinnertime. What’s on the menu?

Mehagian: I tend to eat simply when I’m cooking for myself, so probably wild salmon broiled with ginger, garlic and soy, some steamed greens (kale, chard or spinach), a baked sweet potato and always, always a green salad. I save the fancy stuff for guests.