Garlic butter and fresh cheese adorn rolls of lavash. Get the recipe for Rolled Flatbread with Butter and Cheese (Sinori) ». Simon Bajada
For a country roughly the size of South Carolina, Georgia—at the crossroads of Asia and Europe—boasts an astonishingly varied cuisine. In the east, heading toward Azerbaijan, wine-scented stews, salty cheeses, and barbecued meats rule the table, a testament to the area’s deep-rooted traditions of winemaking and animal husbandry. Along the subtropical Black Sea coast in the west, hazelnuts, clarified butter, and cornmeal are culinary staples. And the farther west you go, the spicier the food gets, thanks to the local hand-pounded chile paste called ajika (now likely available at a supermarket near you).
To wrap your mind (and palate) around the full breadth of Georgian cuisine, give our best Georgian recipes a whirl, from spicy beef kharcho to Chechen-style rolled pasta to vegetarian stunners like pkhali and soupy spiced beans. And while you’re at it, pour out a glass of kvevri wine and repeat after us: Gaumarjos! (“To your victory!”).
Adjaruli Khachapuri Matt Taylor-Gross
Filled with a runny egg and melted cheese—traditionally a mix of imeruli and sulguni—this recipe from the Black Sea region of Adjara is best eaten hot. Here, a blend of low-moisture mozzarella and tart, salty feta gets you close to the original. To eat the khachapuri, tear off pieces of the crust and dunk them into the well of molten cheese, egg, and butter. Get the recipe >
Megruli Khachapuri Photography by Matt
