I was starving when I got home, so I opened the yogurt to snack on while making dinner. When I scooped some into a bowl, I was expecting it to spread into a watery puddle like most American yogurts, but it sat there like a scoop of ice-cream holding its shape. Little did I know that I was about to experience the best yogurt I've ever tasted. It was thick and creamy with a mild tang, and tasted like comfort food, not health food. As spoonfuls were melting in my mouth, I thought of panna cotta – the creamy Italian eggless custard. Yes, that's what it reminded me off – and not just any panna cotta, but the one from Piedmont, where the cream is tangy and so thick that they barely need gelatin to set the panna cotta.

In less than a week the container of yogurt was gone. I put it into chicken salad, spread it on sandwiches, made panna cotta, and ate it straight out of the box. It was time to go back to Kay's for more yogurt. Vatche was glad to see me return. "Armenians introduced yogurt to America." he said proudly. Vatche told me how the Colombosian family started selling yogurt around New England in the 1920s. In 1929, they started Colombo and Sons Creamery, the first major brand of yogurt in the US. But in a quest to appeal to more consumers, Colombo yogurt got Americanized with removal of fat and addition of sugar. Most Armenians stick with brands that American consumers never heard of. "Karoun yogurt is from California." said Vatche. "There is a large Armenian community there, so they make real Armenian yogurt." Kay's Market has been carrying it for 8 years.

Narbeh, who is originally from Armenia, was shopping at Kay's and joined our yogurt discussion. "It's a great yogurt," he said pointing to my Karoun container. He explained to me why this yogurt is so thick – it is strained through a cheese cloth to get rid of liquid. Narbeh likes to use it instead of mayo, and sometimes adds a little cucumber or garlic to make a delicious dip.

I used to substitute fat free yogurt for mayo, but I was wondering if the health benefits were still there when using whole-milk yogurt. Out of curiosity I decided to do the math. Karoun whole-milk yogurt has 220 calories in a cup – that's about 15 per tablespoon. I pulled a jar of mayo out of my fridge – 90 calories per tablespoon. Yogurt it is!