Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Oh the Food We Eat…

I’ve been wanting to update you a bit on what I’m actually eating over here in Georgia.  This is one blog that probably should have occurred closer to the beginning of my stay here, but better late than never, right? Georgian cuisine is quite delicious and I really do enjoy most of the foods here.  I’d say my only complaint is that I miss the variety.  When we go to restaurants, we really don’t even need to look at the menu anymore because we always eat the same thing anytime we go out! I miss food from other cultures, but that’s what Israel and Palestine was for! The break was definitely needed and I ate extremely well while we were traveling.  It’s also hard during the winter because fruits and vegetables are harder to find, and are much more expensive; which makes eating healthy quite difficult.  However, you take what you can get!

Some basic Georgian staples are:
Khatchapuri: cheese pie.  It's delicious :) 
Adjaruli Khatchapuri: A variation of khatchapuri with an egg cracked into the middle that you mix into the cheesy bread.  Also, quite delicious! 
Kinkali, meat, potato or mushroom filled dumplings. You eat them by biting a small hole, sucking out the juice and then finishing off the rest, with the exception of the top.  It's bad luck to eat the top! Kinkali as also NOT to be eaten with a fork or knife! 
Lobio: My personal favorite.  It's often served in a clay pot along with mchadi, a corn based bread.  
Mtsvade: Meat and onions on a stick!
Ojdakhuri: Meat, potatoes and onions in a delicious sauce.  
Cucumber and Tomato Salad: Our veggies for the YEAR. 
 Sokko and Sulguni (mushrooms and cheese): One of my favorite meals.  
Churchkela: Kind of tastes like a fruit roll-up with Nuts inside.  The fruity part is made from grapes so this is a huge hit in the fall during wine season.  

As for what I eat with my host family, we often rotate through about 5 meals.  Sure, there are new things thrown in there every once and a while, but a majority of the time we eat:

*Lobio (a bean soup, which I’m obsessed with)
*Hacho (boiled hen, chicken, or duck in a yummy nut sauce– yes the meat comes from our backyard. They’ve learned to turn up the volume on the TV when it comes time to prepare the meal, if you know what I mean…)
*Meat and Potato Soup
*Borsht (Veggie soup – which I LOVE, but Cici hates – so it’s usually pretty funny when Lela makes it!)
*Stuffed Cabbage – it’s delicious.
*Bread and Honey – we eat this every morning and usually every night.  Sometimes it’s bread and cold meat, or bread and cheese, or bread and peanut butter or jam, but I think you get the gist that a staple of our morning and evening meal is BREAD.

I really can’t complain about the bread during the winter though, because Lela, my amazing host mother makes our bread about every day in our wooden stove.  It was the most pleasant surprise EVER coming back from Israel.  The girls have even come over several times for hot bread and butter, which I think would really only ever happen in Georgia.  I’m used to people coming over for a cup of coffee, but not a piece of hot bread and butter! I’m becoming quite spoiled and accustomed to homemade bread…I’m not sure if I’ll be able to go back!  I’m also addicted to instant coffee.  Never thought that would happen, but I’m going with it.

I do really miss cooking and being able to make yummy meals with new recipes.  It’s just one more thing to look forward to at the end of this journey, but for now I’m trying to get several of these Georgian recipes down pat so that I can come home and share them all with you.  Get excited… 

7 comments:

  1. Em,

    Just had a left over dinner and these all look so good. Hurry home so we can try them and make sure you get all of the ingredients for the receipes. They all look and sound soooooo good. Great to read and learn more about life in Georgia. lyl Dad

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  2. Oh my goodness! All my favorites that my mother in law makes for me every time we visit. My 1st visit, I gained 8lbs in 7 days and I'm only 5'4".
    I'm getting ready for my 3rd trip to GE and your pix made me want to be there NOW!

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  3. Yumness! I don't know how a recovering bread addict will surbive in GE:(
    Do they have rice over there Em?

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  4. I am from Georgia. I am 12. I like your posts :)

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  5. Tegel Outlet food looks delicious Thanks for sharing

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