Food Safari

Georgia is a culinary treasure trove, with its layered history that was interwoven with Arab, Persian, Mongolian cultures from the East and Greek, Roman and Turkish from the West, and yet there is a voice and chords of flavor distinctly Georgian, unlike any other cuisine.  Straddling an isthmus of land between Europe and Asia the cultural influx was huge as it sat in the middle of the Silk Road.

Georgia’s natural climatic diversity also facilitates a range of ingredients, as there are Alpine regions with a wealth of wild berries, mushrooms, many rivers with wild fish, steppe lands laced with wild asparagus, and deciduous rain forests with fiddleheads and edible herbs; the Black Sea coast with tropical fruit such as kiwi and meyor lemons as well as hazelnut and tea; the continental valleys of Kakheti with lush amounts of wild and grown fruit and vegetables such as almonds, figs, and pomegranates.  For meat, you have the migratory sheep of the highlands, famous pork from Kakheti, goats in the south, cows and chickens across the country that take a new level to the notion of free range.

Georgia’s cuisine is similar in serving style to Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cuisines with tables looking like a rainbow mosaic of tasty mezze plates using unripe fruit for zippy acidity, grape vine wood for cooking, fermenting all kinds of flowers and vegetables, the texture, the color of the Georgian feast is as visually appealing as it is delicious.  All this natural bounty gets washed down with organic local wines, often orange, or amber as we call it, in color due to long skin maceration, fermented and aged in buried terra cotta vessels called Qvevri. These wines have the freshness of a white with the backbone of a red allowing them to interact with the dizzying range of flavors on the table.

Georgia has been cultivating grapes for more than 8000 years and wheat, grains, and pulses for 10,000 years so Georgians have been farming longer in one place than the history of most civilizations.  Georgika in Greek means those that farm the land, indicating how they were known in antiquity. But perhaps the most extraordinary part of Georgian cuisine is its cultural context, eating with friends, family or guests in Georgia is a lavish long table covered in small tapas style dishes, with a toast master interweaving eloquent wisdom into the feast – inspiring dialogue, polyphonic songs, poetic toasts, and drinking copious amounts of wine from various vessels from silver azarphesha, to clay  bowels called piala, to a kind of wine bong called kula – Georgians turn dining into a creative art form, as deeply moving as the people and history of this ancient and magical land.

All of Georgia’s culinary landscape is fascinatingly beautiful, some of the exceptional crown jewels are certainly Imeretian, Megrelian, Svanetian and Meskhetian cuisines. Imeretian boasts many wild herbs, rare mushrooms including the Ceaser, river fish, heavenly cheese pies, rich vegetable and walnut pates, various meats roasted in clay ware with pungent and tart sauces, coupled with Georgia’s most iconic wines, full of fresh life and linear minerality.  Visit the custodians of vineyards, the farmers, walk with them through their vines, taste in their cellars, dine on Imereti’s, renowned fare. Seasonally forage in the forests with locals then cook nature’s bounty and enjoy around a table. Travel through the scenic villages, stopping in different small family wineries and families for tasting of different local food (mushrooms, greens, etc.) and endemic local wines.

Distinguished for its hot and spicy food the Megrelian cuisine is famous for Ghomi – a polenta-style dish made from boiled maize. Sulguni is yet another famous type of cheese produced here, Gebzhalia and Satsivi are also popular, with the latter being prepared as one of the main dishes on the New Year’s table across whole of Georgia.

Samtskhe-Javakheti is a haven for food lovers, with a rare cuisine unlike anywhere else, famous for a variety of pasta in various shapes and forms often cooked with tangy yogurt, and topped with caramelized onions, a dazzling array of wild herbs , fermented vegetables, baby soup dumplings some with cured duck, filo pastries both savory and sweet, all washed down by light and refreshing wines, and brandies from the forests’ bountiful wild fruits. Cook, dine and drink with locals.

Svaneti is stunning, boasting unbelievable nature and ancient culture. While exploring the outdoors, retreat to mountain peaks, gaze across alpine meadows,  spot rare raptors and wildlife, hike, ride or drive from village to village, make brief stops in families along the way to try different traditional local meals and delicacies, spend evenings cooking and enjoying the forgotten traditional local cuisine and over meals hear the lore and history of this majestic land.