Georgian cuisine
Greek Cuisine
When you travel to Georgia, what strikes you the first is the friendliness and the openness of the Georgians. You don't need a tourist guide, since everyone on the street is willing to show you the best places to see or where to eat or to stay, which in many cases would be their own home. Indeed the Georgian hospitality is part of the tradition passed from one generation to another, and it is always accompanied with large amounts of food and wine. The best evidence for it is the famous Georgian supra, the traditional feast lasting for several hours.
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So what is so special about Georgian cuisine? Georgia is located on the crossroads between Western Asia and Eastern Europe between Russia and Turkey with the Black Sea to its West. As such it has been an important trading and military passage since the ancient times. Tbilisi, the capital city of Georgia, founded in the 5th century, has been destroyed and rebuilt more than 20 times. All these historical events have brought many influences into the Georgian kitchen, and combined with the fact that Georgia's climate ranges from Alpine up in the mountains to subtropical at the sea coast, created a rich and unique cuisine.
Georgians use various kinds of meat in their cuisine: beef, pork, mutton, poultry. Georgian kitchen is distinctive by usage of various sauces with their main dishes usually prepared from herbs, spices and fruit such as cherry plums, pomegranates and berries. Usage of various nuts is very popular too, especially walnuts. Due to Turkish and Persian influence the Georgian food incorporates various spices and herbs: tarragon, fennel, parsley, coriander, basil, mint. Georgia is famous for their baked goods, especially many types of bread consumed as part of a meal or as street food dishes.
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The following sets of recipes will introduce you to the many tastes and colors of the Georgian cuisine. Street food party is an assortment of recipes of snacks, small dishes and sweets you can find on the streets of Tbilisi, Kutaisi and other Georgian cities. In spite of Georgians' love for meat of various types, Georgian cuisine is a real Heaven for vegetarians, having lots of wonderful vegan and vegetarian dishes. Vegetarian lunch will introduce you to some of them. Georgian supra is a typical feast meal prepared on special occasions like holidays, weddings and after burials. Supra meal usually lasts for hours, during which large amounts of food and wine are consumed.