Georgian food is arguably one of the world’s most underrated cuisines, featuring flavors from

Greece and the Mediterranean, as well as influences from Turkey and Persia. This Georgian
food guide is drawn from experiences traveling across the country — visits to local markets,
meals in family homes and restaurants, and even an impromptu cooking course. It offers an
extensive list of traditional Georgian dishes as well as tips on what to eat and drink when you
visit.
Khinkali (Georgian dumplings), a key element of a Georgian feast.

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Georgian food is quite appropriately an expression of the culture. Warm, gooey comfort food
like khachapuri (cheese-stuffed bread) finds balance with matsoni (yogurt). Herbs like tarragon,
flat parsley, dill and coriander combine with walnuts and garlic for rich fillings and sauces.

Eating, hospitality, toasts and the supra bind family and friends and snare visitors into long,
table-bound interludes. Georgian food and hospitality surrounds you…and can sometimes
suffocate you under its weight.

We developed a deep appreciation for Georgian food during our travels there, particularly due to
helpful friends and host families who enjoyed providing us a quick and tasty education in
Georgian cuisine and dishes.

Words of wisdom from Lali, our host and instructor in Kakheti resonate: “Onions take parsley;
garlic needs walnuts and coriander.”
Piles of spices at a Georgian market.

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The following is just a taste of Georgian food and some of our favorite dishes from almost two
months of traveling throughout the country, from the capital city of Tbilisi to Kahketi, Svaneti,
Borjomi and other areas in the east. We sampled Georgian food in restaurants, markets, and
family homes. In other words, we dove deep into Georgian cuisine.
If you do visit the Republic of Georgia and can't find a particular dish, just ask local people
where you can find it and they will be more than happy to help you discover their cuisine.
Georgians are proud of their cuisine and culture, and happy to share it with curious visitors. And,
you'll likely have a great story to tell about that experience and meal.

Note: This post was originally published on July 20, 2007 and updated on October 19, 2018.

Article Contents

 Traditional Georgian Food

 Georgian Breads
 Georgian Cheese and Yogurt
 Georgian Condiments, Pastes and Sauces
 Georgian Sweets
 Georgian Drinks
 Where to Eat in Tbilisi
 Georgian Cooking Courses and Foodie Tours

Traditional Georgian Food

Khinkali (Georgian Dumplings)

Beautifully twisted knobs of dough, khinkali are typically stuffed with meat and spices, then
served boiled or steamed. The trick with khinkali is to eat them without making a mess or
spilling the hot broth inside all over yourself. How to eat khinkali: sprinkle with black pepper,
grab the dumpling by the handle and turn upside down. Take small bites from the side, slurping
some broth as you go.

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 Making khinkali
(Georgian dumplings).

Lali taught us how to make khinkali from scratch when we stayed in Kakheti. After a few
disastrous attempts, we finally got the hang of how to turn and tuck the dough around the meat.
Remarkably, our dumplings maintained their form as they boiled and the broth remained inside.
We’re told our khinkali-making certificate is in the mail.

Although traditional khinkali typically features meat, vegetarian khinkali featuring fillings of
mushroom and cheese/curd are often available if you ask for them.

Badrijani Nigvzit

Roasted eggplant (badrijan) strips, served flat and topped with walnut paste. Sweet and savory,
this dish is one of Audrey’s favorites.
Traditional Georgian food: badrijani nigvzit, pkhali, lobiani and ajapsandali (Georgian-style ratatouille).

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Lobio (Bean Soup)

A cross between bean soup and refried beans. The consistency and taste of lobio varies widely.
That it often bears a resemblance to Mexican bean dishes is almost always satisfying. For full
effect, the traditional way to eat lobio is with a round of mchadi, Georgian corn bread. We often
searched for lobio after we'd been exhausted by meat and bread, and found it quite often,
including in some unusual locations.

Lobio (Georgian bean soup) served with mchadi (cornbread).

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Qababi (Kebabs)
Grilled minced meat sprinkled with sumac and onion slices, wrapped in a thin lavash-like bread.
In some small Georgian towns, this was the only dish available. We were surprisingly never
disappointed by it.

Dolmas

Steamed, roasted, or boiled vegetables or leaves stuffed with minced meat, herbs and rice.
Though we don’t especially associate dolmas with Georgia, our friend Rusiko's rendition —
featuring stuffed fresh grape leaves from her garden — was something special and tasty.

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Chakapuli

Traditional herbed lamb stew from Kakheti, chakapuli is typically eaten around the holidays
(e.g., Easter). Chakapuli typically features a meat like veal or lamb, and is further flavored by
onions, tkemali (sour plums), white wine, garlic and mixed herbs.

Mtsvadi (Shashlik, meat skewers)

Fire-roasted chunks of pork, salted. For the perfect mtsvadi, cut some fresh onions and place in a
metal bowl, then stir it over a fire. We were lucky to have mtsvadi in an impromptu barbecue in
the mountains. It was among some of the best barbecued meat we’ve ever had.

Be careful, chunks of the prized chalahaji (or back meat) are usually in limited amounts and
meant to be shared with the group. Audrey learned this after unknowingly taking the whole
skewer for herself to shrieks of objection. She then shared.

Satsivi

Poultry (chicken or turkey) served with a thinned paste of walnut, garlic and herbs. Considered a
winter dish (“sivi” implies cold in Georgian), satsivi is usually eaten around the Christmas
holiday and the New Year, particularly in the region of Adjari. Though we’ve enjoyed this at
Georgian restaurants abroad, we unfortunately didn’t have an authentic opportunity to try it this
time around.

Mashed potatoes and lots of cheese

Mashed potatoes are the traditional Svanetian farmer food. We’ll never forget waking up at our
host family's in the town of Adishi to a giant plateful (for each of us) of the stuff. We took a few
spoonfuls and could barely move.

Georgian Breads

Khachapuri (Georgian Cheese Bread)

No visit to Georgia would be complete (or possible) without a few tastes of khachapuri, the
warm, gooey cheese-stuffed bread that oozes and drips with heart-stopping goodness. In addition
to the standard round pie stuffed with cheese, other variations include egg-topped (Adjarian
khachapuri), the four-fold filo dough pocket, and tarragon, mushroom and rice-stuffed pies.

Khachapuri (Georgian cheese bread) in Tbilisi, Georgia.

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Arguably the best khachapuri can be found at a home stay when it’s made fresh for breakfast –
just as we enjoyed it in Tbilisi and Kisiskhevi. You can also find khachapuri in the Svaneti
region, where you may also find it stuffed with leek. If you aren’t staying with a family, don’t
despair – you can find khachapuri stands on almost every street corner in Tbilisi.

Puri / Tonis Puri (Georgian Flatbread)

Tonis puri is the Georgian bread staple. Baked in a ceramic circular hearth oven with the dough
stuck to the side (like Indian naan), puri comes out moist, with a tinge of sourdough flavor, and
perfectly tainted with black bits from inside the oven. You'll notice that the edges of tonis puri
are often browned and taste faintly of matzo. The most memorable version of tonis puri we
tasted was in the town of Borjomi, next to the bus station. This might not come as a surprise, as
Borjomi is famous for its water, a key ingredient in Georgian bread.

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Lobiani (Bean-stuffed bread)

Lobiani is similar to khachapuri-, except that it is stuffed with bean paste rather than cheese.
Lobiani is typically quite moist and is just slightly healthier than its original cheese cousin,
khachapuri.

Kubdari

Kubdari, a bread specialty originally from the Svaneti region, is a khachapuri-like dough stuffed
with small chunks of meat, spices and onions. The best versions of kubdari that we tasted were
in restaurant stops along the road between Zugdidi and Mestia, as well as in home stays along the
route from Mestia to Ushguli.

Chvishtari

Cheese corn bread (a Svanetian version of mchadi with cheese). This will stick to your bones for
days. It makes excellent trekking food.

Georgian Cheese and Yogurt

Matsoni (Georgian yogurt)

A rather sour fresh yogurt that usually shows up topless (well, without a lid) at the table. Trial
and error usually works to suit your taste. You can eat it savory served with warm meat,
vegetables, or khachapuri. For a sweeter version at breakfast-time or for dessert, you can blend
matsoni with fresh honey or fruit.

After matsoni straight from the farm, store-bought yogurt will never taste the same. Matsoni is a
culinary and cultural Georgian staple. Since it's made from boiled fresh milk and a bacterial
starter, matsoni is certain to have medicinal qualities.

Sulguni (Georgian cheese)

As far as we could tell, sulguni is *the* national cheese of the Republic of Georgia. A salted,
water-soaked cheese that features a stringy shell and moist middle, sulguni is typically eaten by
itself or with a round of tonis puri bread and a plateful of herbs and tomatoes.
Georgian Condiments, Pastes and Sauces

Adjika (Chili Paste)

Adjika, a spice paste condiment, is best compared to spicy Indian pickle-like paste. We were
always served adjika with cucumber and tomato salad.

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Making adjika: grinding fresh garlic with dried peppers.

Tkemali Sauce (Sour Plum Sauce)

Taken in small doses alongside cheese, khachapuri, or meat, this sour plum sauce is said to be a
cleanser. Whenever we had a meal with a family, out came the canning jar of tkemali sauce.

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Pkhali

A paste made from spinach, walnuts, and garlic. Excellent with tonis puri or khachapuri.
Typically served as an appetizer, or mezze-style with other small, flavorful dishes, the fresh,
local flavor of pkhali made it another of our favorites.

Svaneti salt

So-called Svaneti salt serves as a perfect complement to vegetables, cheese or salad. Made from
salt, dried garlic, chili pepper and a blend of various spices and herbs like fenugreek and
coriander, Svaneti salt and its aroma will have you thinking you’re inching closer to Persia or
India.

Georgian Sweets

Tatara or Pelamushi

Confection made from boiled, pressed grape extract. Can be eaten as a sort of pudding as dessert.
The liquid is the sweet coating used to make churchkhela.

Churchkhela

Brown rubbery truncheons made from strings of walnuts dipped in tatara and dried. Sometimes
referred to as “Georgian Snickers.” Don’t eat the string!
Strings of churchkhela hanging at a dried fruit market stall in Tbilisi.