Georgian Cuisine: Walnuts, Khachapuri and the Art of the Feast

A Cuisine at the Crossroads

Georgia sits in the South Caucasus, between the Black Sea in the west and the Caspian region in the east, with the high peaks of the Greater Caucasus along its northern border. For thousands of years this small country lay on routes linking Europe and Asia, including branches of the Silk Road. Traders, armies and neighbouring empires all left traces on its kitchen, so Georgian cooking shares some features with the cuisines of the Caucasus, the Middle East and Eastern Europe. Yet it has a character all its own, and visitors usually recognise it at the first bite.

Geography explains much of that character. Within a short distance, Georgia moves from humid subtropical lowlands near the Black Sea to dry eastern valleys full of vineyards and then to alpine villages high in the mountains. Each landscape grows different crops and raises different animals, so every region developed its own way of cooking. A meal in a mountain village in Tusheti can look very different from one on the coast of Adjara, even though both are unmistakably Georgian.

Food also carries deep social meaning. In Georgia, sharing a meal is a way of showing respect, welcoming guests and keeping family and community ties strong. Hospitality is a point of national pride, and a popular saying holds that a guest is a gift from God.

The Flavours That Define Georgian Food

Walnuts Everywhere

If one ingredient could represent Georgian cooking, it would be the walnut. Ground walnuts are blended with garlic, herbs, spices and sometimes vinegar or pomegranate juice to make thick, creamy pastes and sauces. These pastes fill rolled slices of fried eggplant, bind together minced vegetables and coat chicken or turkey. Walnut oil, released when the nuts are crushed, gives many dishes a rich taste without any dairy cream.

Fresh Herbs and Spice Blends

Georgian tables are rarely without a plate of fresh herbs, eaten raw alongside the meal. Coriander leaves (cilantro), tarragon, dill, parsley, purple basil and green onions are especially common. Cooks also rely on a set of dried spices that give the cuisine its warm, earthy aroma:

• Khmeli suneli, a famous blend of dried herbs and spices that often includes coriander seed, fenugreek, dill, savory and marigold.
• Utskho suneli, blue fenugreek, a milder relative of ordinary fenugreek with a nutty fragrance.
• Imeretian saffron, which is not true saffron at all but dried marigold petals, used to give food a golden colour.
• Svanetian salt, from the mountain region of Svaneti, made by grinding salt with garlic, blue fenugreek, coriander, caraway and dried chilli.

A Love of Sour Flavours

Georgian cooks balance rich walnuts and cheese with sharp, sour flavours. The most famous example is tkemali, a sauce made from sour cherry plums cooked with garlic, herbs and a type of mint called pennyroyal. It comes in green and red versions, depending on the ripeness and colour of the plums, and is served especially with grilled meat and potatoes. Pomegranate seeds and juice add colour and tang to salads and sauces, while ajika, a hot paste of red peppers, garlic and herbs from western Georgia, brings fiery heat.

Bread and Cheese: Khachapuri and Beyond

Khachapuri

The best-known Georgian dish is khachapuri, bread filled with melted cheese. Its name joins two Georgian words: khacho, meaning curd cheese, and puri, meaning bread. Almost every region bakes its own version:

• Imeretian khachapuri is a round, flat bread with cheese sealed inside.
• Megrelian khachapuri looks similar but has an extra layer of cheese melted on top.
• Adjarian khachapuri is shaped like a boat. Its open centre is filled with cheese, and a raw egg yolk and a piece of butter are added just before serving. Diners stir them into the hot cheese and tear off pieces of the crust to dip in.
• Gurian khachapuri, a crescent-shaped bread with cheese and boiled eggs, is traditionally baked at Christmas.

The cheeses themselves are central to Georgian food. Imeruli is a soft, fresh cheese from Imereti, while sulguni, from Samegrelo, is a stretchy, slightly salty brined cheese that melts beautifully.

Bread from the Tone

Everyday bread, called tonis puri, is baked in a tone, a deep round oven built into the ground and heated with a fire at the bottom. Bakers slap the dough onto the hot inner walls, where it sticks and bakes in minutes. A popular shape is shoti, a long loaf with pointed ends that looks a little like a canoe. In many Georgian towns you can still buy bread straight from a small bakery with a tone.

Not all Georgian bread is made from wheat. In western Georgia, after maize arrived from the Americas, corn became a staple. Mchadi are small, dense cornbread cakes, and ghomi is a smooth cornmeal porridge eaten with slices of sulguni. When cheese is stirred into hot ghomi until it becomes stretchy, the dish is called elarji.

Dumplings, Grills and Stews

Khinkali

Khinkali are large twisted dumplings that came from the mountain regions of eastern Georgia, such as Pshavi, Khevsureti and Tusheti. The classic filling is minced meat seasoned with onion, herbs and pepper. As they boil, the juices inside turn into a hot broth. Khinkali are eaten by hand: you hold the dumpling by its thick, pleated top knot, take a small bite, sip the broth and then eat the rest. Many people leave the doughy knot on the plate, and some count the knots to see who ate the most. Skilled cooks are proud of how many pleats they can fold into each dumpling.

Mtsvadi

Mtsvadi is meat, often pork, threaded on skewers and grilled over hot coals. Traditionally the fire is made from dried grapevine cuttings, which burn hot and add a gentle smoky aroma. The meat is usually served simply, with raw onion rings, pomegranate seeds and tkemali sauce on the side.

Stews and Soups

Georgian stews are thick and fragrant with herbs. Chakhokhbili is chicken stewed with tomatoes, onions and fresh herbs. Its name comes from khokhobi, the Georgian word for pheasant, the bird originally used in the dish. Kharcho is a hearty beef soup made with rice and thickened with ground walnuts, soured with cherry plum. Chakapuli, a spring dish of lamb or veal cooked with tarragon, green plums and white wine, is especially popular around Easter. Another favourite is satsivi, cooked chicken or turkey covered with a cold, spiced walnut sauce, a traditional dish of the New Year table.

A Table Full of Vegetables

Georgian cuisine is unusually rich in vegetable dishes. One reason is the calendar of the Georgian Orthodox Church, which sets many fasting days each year when believers avoid meat and dairy products. Over centuries, cooks created a large repertoire of tasty plant-based recipes, and many of them are eaten all year round.

• Pkhali are small balls or patties of finely chopped cooked vegetables, such as spinach, beetroot, cabbage or green beans, mixed with walnut paste, garlic and herbs. They are often decorated with pomegranate seeds.
• Badrijani nigvzit are slices of fried eggplant rolled around a walnut and garlic filling.
• Lobio is a stew of red beans flavoured with herbs and spices, traditionally cooked and served in a clay pot. It is often eaten with mchadi and pickled vegetables.
• Ajapsandali is a summer stew of eggplant, tomatoes, peppers and herbs.

Regional Kitchens

Western Georgia

The warm, wet west, including Samegrelo, Imereti, Guria and Adjara, is known for spicier food, more corn and plenty of cheese. Samegrelo in particular is famous for its hot peppers and generous use of ajika, as well as for elarji and Megrelian khachapuri. The region of Racha is known for lobiani, a bread filled with seasoned beans, and for its smoked ham.

Eastern Georgia

In the east, especially Kakheti and Kartli, wheat bread and grilled meat play a bigger role, and the food is often less spicy. Kakheti is Georgia's most important wine region, and its cooks are known for mtsvadi and for feasts held at harvest time.

The Mountains

Life in high mountain villages shaped a cuisine of sturdy, filling dishes based on meat, dairy and flour. Besides khinkali, Svaneti is famous for kubdari, a round bread stuffed with chopped meat seasoned with Svanetian salt and spices. Tusheti, where shepherds move their flocks between summer and winter pastures, is known for a sheep's milk cheese called guda, traditionally matured inside a sack made of sheepskin.

The Supra: Feasting as Tradition

Eating and drinking are at the heart of Georgian culture, and their fullest expression is the supra, a traditional feast. The word literally means tablecloth. At a supra, dishes keep arriving until the table is covered and plates are stacked on top of one another, as a sign of abundance and generosity.

Every formal supra is led by a tamada, or toastmaster, chosen for wit, wisdom and a talent for speaking. The tamada proposes a series of toasts in a traditional order, honouring things such as peace, the homeland, parents, friends, children and those who have died. Other guests then add their own words to each toast. A supra can last for many hours and is often accompanied by Georgian polyphonic singing, a style of singing in several independent voice parts that UNESCO has recognised as a masterpiece of humanity's intangible heritage. The supra is less about the amount of food than about conversation, storytelling and showing respect to everyone at the table.

Ancient Vessels and Famous Drinks

Georgia is often called one of the cradles of winemaking. Archaeologists have found pieces of clay jars with chemical traces of grape wine at sites in southern Georgia dating to around 8,000 years ago, among the oldest such evidence anywhere. Grapes and vines also appear throughout Georgian art, legends and religious tradition.

The traditional method uses the qvevri, a large egg-shaped clay vessel that is buried in the ground up to its neck. The cool, steady temperature of the earth helps the grape juice ferment slowly. In 2013, UNESCO added the ancient Georgian traditional qvevri winemaking method to its list of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

Georgia is also famous for its mineral waters, especially Borjomi, which comes from springs in a forested gorge in the centre of the country. Another local favourite is bright green tarragon lemonade, part of a family of fruit and herb sodas linked to the name of Mitrofan Lagidze, a Georgian maker of soft drinks.

Sweets and Snacks

Georgian desserts are often made from fruit, nuts and honey rather than sugar and flour. The most famous is churchkhela: walnuts or hazelnuts are threaded onto a long string, then dipped again and again into thickened grape juice and hung up to dry. The finished candy looks like a knobbly sausage and is sold at markets across the country. The grape juice pudding used to make it, called pelamushi, is also eaten on its own.

For the New Year, families make gozinaki, pieces of walnuts cooked in honey and cut into diamond shapes. Other traditional snacks include tklapi, thin sheets of dried fruit purée, and chiri, dried fruit such as persimmons. Matsoni, a thick yogurt, is eaten with honey or used in cooking.

Lesser-Known Details

• In the Soviet era, Georgian dishes such as khachapuri, satsivi and mtsvadi became popular across the whole Soviet Union, and Georgian restaurants were considered special places for a celebration.
• Khinkali are traditionally eaten without a knife and fork, and using cutlery to cut them open lets the precious broth run out.
• Clay cookware is still common in Georgian kitchens: the kotani, a clay pot for lobio, and the ketsi, a clay pan for baking and roasting.
• Many Georgian dishes are served at room temperature, which makes it possible to set dozens of dishes on a supra table at once.
• Every region claims that its own version of khachapuri is the real one, and friendly arguments about the best recipe are part of Georgian food culture.