Gata (food)

Gata (Armenian: գաթա gatʿa; also sometimes transliterated as Gatah (Eastern Armenian) or Katah (Western Armenian) is an Armenian pastry or sweet bread, similar to a coffee cake. There are many variations of gata and typically specific towns or regions will have their own version. It can be found in a variety of shapes, sizes and may be decorated or left unadorned. Long ago, gata was baked in a tonir but is now baked in ovens. The bread is often baked to coincide with the feast of Candlemas (known as Tiarn'ndaraj in Armenian), but is not limited to the holiday and is eaten year around.

One popular variety is gata with koritz (khoriz), a filling that consists of flour, butter and sugar. Gata can have other fillings such as nuts, most commonly walnuts. Some variations include placing a coin inside the dough before the gata is baked, and it is said that whoever receives the piece with the coin is to be blessed with good fortune. Gata from the villages of Garni and Geghard are decorated (before baking), round, and generally about a foot in diameter. Around the southern edge of Lake Sevan, in the town of Tsovinar, gata is denser and sweeter, and baked without koritz in a triangular shape without decoration.