YEREVAN. - Dolma Festival that earlier started in Armenia is now over. Dolma is traditional Armenian dish made of ground beef, lamb and spices wrapped in grape leaves. The event was attended by the governor of Armavir region, organizers and representatives of Golden Apricot Film Festival. The winners were awarded by certificates and medals.

Sedrak Mamulyan, chairman of the “Development and Preservation of Armenian Culinary Traditions” NGO, which is the event organizer, earlier informed Armenian News-NEWS.am that a dolma festival will be held at Armenia’s Sardarapat Memorial on July 11. He added that during the festival 18-20 pavilions will introduce their varieties of dolma and the jury will decide the best dolma maker.

High level guests and renowned personalities also will attend the event. The objective of organizing such festival is to make Armenia more appealing for tourists, to introduce traditional Armenian cuisine to wider masses, and to introduce dolma as a truly Armenian dish.

“Dolma is completely and solely an Armenian dish,” said Sedrak Mamulyan.

In his words, if dolma is made from grape leaves and the Armenian people have lived in the areas where grapes grow, dolma could not belong to another nation.