The art of the supra

The importance that Georgians devote to their loved ones often manifests itself in the form of the supra. This banquet - very important in the country - is not only a good opportunity to enjoy tasty dishes, this event is also reserved for distinguished guests and important moments, which are accompanied by polyphonic songs and other traditional music. Each supra has its tamada

(table chef) whose purpose is to toast and entertain the guests throughout the meal. One chooses of course a person with a strong stomach because he must be able to drink a glass at each toast. Georgian banquets consist of a multitude of dishes and especially starters and other appetizers that are not unlike the mezzes eaten in Turkey. Examples includeabkhazura, meatballs rolled in strainer, orachma, a kind of multi-layered pastry that could resemble a cheese baklava. Eggplant is a staple of the local cuisine and comes in many forms, such asajapsandali, a mixture of eggplant, tomatoes, peppers and onions that is preserved for a long time, or badrijnis khizilala, the regional version of eggplant caviar. Otherwise the classic nigvziani badrijani, consisting of fried eggplant slices topped with a nut cream. This dried fruit plays a major role in Georgian cuisine in the same way as eggplant. It is also used in the composition ofajika, a very spicy puree made from chillies - red or green -, nuts, garlic and coriander. Pkhali comes in the form of small balls of chopped vegetables, mainly spinach, beetroot or cabbage, which are bound with walnut powder. Finally, lobio is a spicy puree made from white beans. This puree is used as a filling for lobiani, a kind of turnover.

Hors d'oeuvres and cheese

There are also many meat-based appetizers such as kuchmachi made from fricasseed poultry livers decorated with pomegranate seeds or kupati, a pork sausage from western Georgia. Despite its close name, kubdari is a meat (lamb, kid or pork) and onion turnover. Reserved for more experienced palates, mujuji is a kind of head cheese made from pork, frozen in a good quantity of gelatin.Apokhti

, dried and smoked meat (beef, lamb, goose, duck) can also be found as a snack.

But of course salads are very popular, especially during long, hot summers. Kitri pomidvris salata is made of cucumbers and tomatoes, richly garnished with herbs. It is sometimes eaten with a nut sauce. Sagazapkhulo sal ata is prepared in spring. There is no strict recipe but it is mainly made with fresh ingredients and hard-boiled eggs. But you can also enjoy simpler specialities such as satatsuris salata with asparagus or tcharkhlis salata

with beetroot. There are also a number of more or less mature or creamy cheeses such as nadughi, which is similar to a slightly granular fromage frais. Sulguni is one of Georgia's most famous cheeses, which comes from Mingrelia in the west of the country. It is made from cow or buffalo milk. But we can also mention theadjaruli chechili made from cow's milk, similar to mozzarella, which is knotted in the shape of a braid. Chkinti is a dense, salty cheese originally made in the central part of the country, in the region of Imérétie. Dambalkhacho is one of the rarest and most expensive cheeses in Georgia. It comes in the form of small balls, naturally powdered with mould. It is produced in Pshavi and Mtiuleti. In spite of its name, guda does not resemble the Dutch cheese with the same sound, it is white, soft but crumbly and has many holes in it. The spectacular tenili is very stringy.

The khachapuri

If there is one specialty that alone could materialize all Georgian gastronomy, it is khachapuri. Although it is often a snack, usually eaten on the go, it can also be a real meal. This slightly flat, brioche bread is topped with melted cheese in the centre. The crust is used for dipping in the cheese. There are, however, several types depending on the region. The best known are the boat-shaped Adjarie(adjaruli) or Mingrelie(megruli) breads, which are filled with cheese and an egg and brushed with melted butter before serving. In Imérétie, the khachapuri(imeruli) is more like a circular turnover topped with cheese. In Ossetia(osuri), it contains potatoes in its filling. Finally, penovani khachapuri is made with puff pastry. Khachapuri is so common in Georgia that its price is even used to calculate inflation. It was highly popular in the countries of the former USSR.

The other basics of Georgian cuisine

But Georgians also enjoy many stews and soups, such as bozbashi made from mutton, peas and chestnuts, chakapuli, a lamb or beef stew richly flavoured with tarragon and topped with alucha, a variety of highly acidic plums commonly used in Caucasian cuisine. They are also used to prepare kharcho, a soup made from beef, rice and nuts. The chakhokhbili, native to western Georgia, is prepared with tomatoes and poultry. Chikhirtma

is a creamy soup made from poultry, eggs and herbs.

There are also many meat specialties such as the classic gufta, which is just a distortion of the Persian word kefta, meaning spicy meatballs. This is also the case of kababi, which comes from the Turkish word kebab. In Georgia, it comes in the form of skewers of minced meat decorated with pomegranate seeds. Close enough, mtsvadi is also a specialty of grilled meat skewers. The qaurma

is aimed at a more adventurous public, as it is made of various pork or beef offal, simmered in a spicy pomegranate sauce.

Poultry is also very popular in Georgia. Probably the best known dish is satsivi, a hot or cold chicken dish served with a creamy nut sauce called bazhe from western Georgia. Another popular dish is shkmeruli, a simple but tasty recipe of chicken in a cream sauce. Finally, tabaka is a roasted chicken speciality coated withadjika

, the famous chilli pepper nut paste that Georgians love.

There are also mixed dishes such as tolma, the Georgian version of Turkish dolma

. The filling is mainly made of minced meat rolled in cabbage or vine leaves. Khinkali are also very popular: they are small purse-shaped ravioli filled with meat (beef, lamb or pork). Finally, shilaplavi is a spicy rice dish garnished with lamb and mushrooms.

Fish and bread

Open to the Black Sea and dotted with lakes and rivers, Georgia has unsurprisingly many fish specialties. These include kalmakhi tarkhunit or fried trout with tarragon, or kobri nigvzit da brotseulit, a recipe for fried carp with walnuts and pomegranate seeds. Catfish, too, is popular, for example boiled with coriander and vinegar, known as loko kindzmarshi, or simmered in red wine as in loko tsiteli ghvinit. The term kepali

refers to mullet, a fish that is most often fried in Georgia. The dishes are most often accompanied by a variety of breads, although most of them are more flat breads than leavened breads such as those eaten in France. Traditional Georgian breads are varied and include tonis puri, mesxuri puri, nazuki or shotis puri, in the shape of a boat. The mchadi, round and flat, is made from corn flour and not wheat. It is usually eaten with lobio (bean purée) and fresh cheese. In Georgia, the breads are traditionally baked in a round oven called a tone where the breads are placed against the hot surface of the clay oven where they bake in an instant before being peeled off and cooled.

Desserts and other treats

Georgia has a rather modest dessert culture and most preparations are still rather simple. There are a few dairy products that are very popular as desserts, such as matsoni, similar to yoghurt or sour cream. Thanks to its mild climate, the country is able to cultivate a wide variety of fruits: figs, apricots, grapes, pomegranates, plums, apples, quinces, citrus fruits, which are often dried and are called chiri. On a trip to Georgia, it will be almost impossible to miss the churchkhela. These spectacular sweets could look like long, brightly coloured candles. In fact, they are garlands of nuts coated with several dozen layers of grape juice icing. The janjukha is very similar, but the nuts are replaced by hazelnuts. These specialties are extremely nourishing and were once used as an equivalent to our protein bars. Gozinaki is also a confectionery, cut into diamond shapes, made from chopped nuts and honey. Finally, tklapi

is a soft candy made from fruit juices (grapes, apricots, plums, cherries and figs) which are spread very thinly to dry and cut into pieces and rolled up into tubes. Another emblematic dessert of Georgia, the pelamushi is a kind of flan made from thickened grape juice, which is sprinkled with nuts before serving. Finally, muraba is a generic term designating different types of jams made mainly from whole fruits such as green walnut (with its shell), watermelon, quince, fig or wild rose. Not forgetting also cakes and other pastries such as nazuki, a sweet bread with cinnamon, lemon and raisins, or pakhlava, the Adjaran version of the famous baklava. The shaqarlama, also from Adjaria, is a type of small honey shortbread.

Georgian wine

Georgia is one of the oldest wine-growing regions in the world. The fertile valleys and protective slopes of the Transcaucasus Mountains have been home to vine cultivation and wine production for at least eight thousand years. Among the best known Georgian wine-growing regions are Kakhetia (still divided into the micro-regions of Telavi and Kvareli), Kartli, Imérétie, Racha-Lechkhumi and Kvemo-Svanétie, Adjaria and Abkhazia. Unlike most European countries where wine is aged in barrels, in Georgia, kvevri is used for vinification. It is a type of terracotta amphora of about 800 to 3,500 l, the use of which was included in the UNESCO list of intangible cultural heritage in 2017. The best known Georgian wines are pirosmani, alazani, akhasheni, saperavi and kindzmarauli. Many Georgian wines are made from traditional grape varieties, little known in the West, such as saperavi and rkatsiteli. Conversely, local wines are well known in Eastern Europe and especially in Russia, where they were served at the tables of Russian aristocrats and later Soviet elites. It remains very popular abroad with exports of more than 10 million bottles of wine per year.

Other drinks

Another emblematic alcohol of Georgia, chacha or chatcha is a clear, grape marc brandy (ranging from 40% alcohol for commercial production to 65% for home brewing), which is sometimes called "wine vodka", "grape vodka" or "Georgian grappa". It can also be produced from unripe or wild grapes. It is sometimes prepared with other fruits or herbs such as figs, tangerines, oranges, blackberries or even tarragon. Many Georgians claim that the chacha

has medicinal properties.

Georgia is also home to many brands of beer, including Natakhtari, Kazbegi, Argo, Kasri and Karva. Although it is consumed less than wine, it is still very popular, especially among the younger generations, and there are more and more microbreweries in the country, especially in the capital.

As for non-alcoholic drinks, we can mention the famous Laghidze water, a lemonade very famous in the country, made with various natural syrups (lemon, pomegranate, tarragon, etc.), sold in bottles or mixed directly into a glass from a soda fountain. Invented in 1900 by a pharmacist by the name of Mitrofan Laghidze, it is now very popular throughout Eastern Europe and has even been included on the UNESCO list of intangible cultural heritage in 2014.

Finally, thanks to the influences of the Black Sea, much of western Georgia has a mild and humid climate, which is conducive to the cultivation of tea, the first seeds of which were planted in the country at the end of the 19th century. Under both the Russian Empire and the USSR, Georgia was the main tea-growing area in the region, a drink that Russians were very fond of. Although tea cultivation in the country has been declining since the 1970s, it is now experiencing a revival and tea - black - is still very popular among Georgians.