Health Secrets from the Caucasus for 100 Healthy Happy Years

Health Secrets from the Caucasus for 100 Healthy Happy Years

A book review by Vahe H. Apelian

A few decades ago, late 1970's, my late brother-in-law Krikor had bought a countryside property in Monroe, NY. The house sat on a 35 acres wilderness. The alleyway that led to his house reminded me of Keurkune than anywhere else. The house became a weekend refuge for the family, especially for my father. My mother-in-law and Krikor commuted to work every day while my father-in-law stayed there and attended to his chores, chopped wood, raised vegetable garden, built a chicken coop and for sometime took care of Krikor’s horse.

The downtown Monroe was a few miles from the house. For all practical purposes, it was a dormant town, a far cry from the NY City, mere 50 miles away via Route 71. Krikor worked in the city as a jeweler with the famous Tiffany's. Somehow Krikor had gotten to know of an Armenian couple that ran a restaurant called West Point Farms, in Central Valley. Wikipedia tells me "Central Valley is a hamlet in Orange County, New York, United States. The population was 1,857 at the 2000 census." The restaurant that seemed also a family farm of sorts, was located some five miles from Krikor's house. One weekend we paid a visit. The owners gifted me a book titled "A Diet For 100 Healthy Happy Years-Health Secrets from the Caucasus" by Morvyth McQueen-Williams, M.D. and Barbara Apisson, edited by Norman Ober. The book is copyrighted to the Barbara Apisson and Norman Ober and is dated 1977.

In the Foreword, the editor noted that he had been frequenting the restaurant from Manhattan for the over twenty years. Collaborating with the medical doctor Morvyth and the chef Barbara, the editor Norman Ober came with the understanding for writing the book. "Dr. Williams would practice the medicine and that Barbara would assist with the view-point, Caucasus data and the recipes" that are included in the book. The "final language and format were my responsibility", understandably noted the editor in his foreword.

Morvyth McQueen-Williams had "received a B.A. at the University of California and with it the University Gold Medal as the ‘the most distinguished student in the capacity of the University to award'

After seven years of straight A grades, Dr. Williams won her M.D. degree from Yale University and later her M.A. and Ph.D." She married Kegan Sarkissian who was "a research physiologist and inventor in the developmental physiology and nutritional sciences."

“Kegan came to the United States in 1919. He spent four years at the University of New Hampshire, specializing in genetic research in agriculture” where he introduced beekeeping by "the methods of his ancestors". In this period, he was also involved with the development of the New Hampshire Red, a superior hen species.”

During her tenure at Johns Hopkins, Dr. Williams was repeatedly exposed to radiation. She credited fighting off the ravages of cancer for more than thirty years to her work with her husband in botanicals. The Sarkissians and the Apissons were friends.

Barbara  ‘was born in Erzurum, Armenia, now part of Turkey. This mountainous Caucasus region, noted for the longevity of its inhabitants, kept the imprint on Barbara after she and her mother fled Turkey and settled in Massachusetts following World War I, keeping the traditions intact – and their recipes." She "met Armenian-born Henri Apisson in New York in 1935. Henri's parent escaped with him to Marseilles, France, in the postwar period of Turkish extermination of Armenians. In 1930, graduating college in Berlin, he followed his three brothers and two sisters and parents to the United States." In 1947 the Apissons fulfilled a dream they had been pursuing when they purchased a property that became the West Point Farms eatery.

The book is 217 pages long and consists of eleven chapters. The first chapters explain the effects of nutritionals, including vitamins, minerals, and botanicals, on a perosn's health including the person's lifestyle. The beneficial effects of walking and gardening and weight control are explained with a listing of weighted menus to regulate food intake. The last chapter is a listing of recipes. Some are commonly known Armenian recipes with madzoon (Yogurt), beureks, plaki, pilafs, midia dolma, kufteh, shish kebab, lavash, anoushabour, petmez pudding, mahalebi, bourma. There was a recipe titled "Armenian Soul Food" which is explained to be ‘a high-protein "pastry" base.

The West Pont Farms seemed to have left its heydays long behind when we got there. The owners, Henri and Barbara Apissons had remained as the only link to its past.  What fascinated me more than the recipes or the nutritional advice, was the serendipitous turn of events that had brought these Armenians from their historic homeland, one being from Erzerum to the hamlet known as Central Valley. 

I searched for the restaurant on the Internet today when I came across the book as I sort my books and put them in order. The only thing that I found was a mention of a vintage postcard, the one I have attached.

The book retails for $10 on the Internet.