Tasting Georgia: A Food and Wine Journey in the Caucasus with Over 70 Recipes

The wine world’s cool kids are buzzing about Georgia.That is, the Georgia that is bordered on the North by Russia, to the South by Turkey, Armenia and Azerbaijan.If you’re interested in a culture that, 8,000 years ago, gave birth to wine-making and still makes some wine by the ancient method, I have a book for you. If you’re interested in visiting a country that is far off the tourist path, I have a tour guide for you. If you’re a foodie who wants to try dishes you won’t find in an restaurant in Amerrica, here are 70 recipes. And if you’re an armchair traveler who would never go halfway around the world even to see vistas and customs unchanged for centuries, here are 400 pictures so crisp you’d swear they were photo-shopped.All of that is in what’s fair to say is the only book you’ll ever read about this raw countryside and its charming people: “Tasting Georgia: A Food and Wine Journey in the Caucasus.” No surprise that the author is Carla Capalbo, who has made a career of profiling overlooked regions, cuisines and wines and has, over the years, produced one classic title after another.She heard about Georgia as a child. Her mother danced under the direction of George Balanchine, whose father was a Georgian opera singer and composer. “You’d love Georgia,” she told Carla. “The food and wine are delicious, and there are cows in the roads.”Decades later, she got interested in the Georgian wine-making tradition of burying wine in large terra-cotta casks called qvervri. The wine ages naturally, with the sediment settling in the qvervri’s pointed bottom. In any other country, you would say these are quaint traditions from as disappearing way of life — but in Georgia they endure.In 2013, Capalbo visited Georgia. “It only took a few days for me to fall in love with the people, their food, wine and culture,” she says. Before she left, she knew she’d be doing a book.And why not? Meals in Georgia are social events, without a rigid course structure. Small dishes cover the table. The recipes haven’t changed for centuries. They don’t need to: The stars are grilled meats, vegetables garnished with herbs, nuts and spices. At the most popular restaurant in the country, found on a side road between towns, the menu — soup dumplings, grilled pork, tarragon lemonade — hasn’t changed since 1966.And the variety of landscapes! In the mountains, shepherds bring flocks of sheep down at the end of the day and then the sheep dutifully go off to their own homes. In a 6,600-foot-high resort town, every room in the shockingly affordable hotel has a view of the mountains. At a wine house near the Black Sea, you have lunch in the garden under a canopy.Georgia’s culture stands everything we know on its head. To turn the pages of this book is an unsettling pleasure — you go back to a time of small family farms, people who know one another all their lives, and a definition of news that involves events no more than a valley away. If I could just time-travel…

Good condition, great value, great contents.

What a lovely book about Georgian culture, wine, food and people. The photographs are stunning and recipes look appetitive . I bought it as a gift but thinking to get one for myself too.

the book is beautiful and i'm sure there's lots of great ethnographic info in it, but all i wanted was a cookbook. the recipes are buried in historical/cultural lessons on the region and the index is no help at all -- just one entry that says "recipes" followed by a run-on text dump.

I lived in Georgia for 2+ years while serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer. All of us learned what cooking we could from host families, but it was hard to replicate dishes back home in the US. This book has eased all our troubles. Since we can't buy local Georgian cheese here, there's a great substitute for using it to make Adjaruli khachapuri, for instance. The first few recipes have been successful on our first try.There's also a lot of great background information on history and customs for various regional cuisines, wine and social practices. Fun to read, even more fun to cook from.

I spent nearly three years living in Georgia, and I am a HUGE fan of their culinary traditions. As such, I had some VERY high hopes for this book.It's not bad, just ok. I think it tries to be both a travel book and a cookbook and it does a fair job at both. The recipes seem to be the author's adaptations of Georgian classics, rather than authentic ones. The Khachapuri filling, for example is just another trendy "Google search" version of the classic recipe with totally non-Georgian cheeses. I would have much rather seen at least a nod towards Sulguni and why she chose to deviate, or at least some discussion of cheeses that are analagous. Her dough recipe also comes out a lot more voluminous than a traditional Khachapuri does. I was a bit disappointed to see beef Kharcho missing from the recipe selection, as well. As a Megrelian staple, I would have expected to see its spicy goodness included.I think the most frustrating aspect of the book is organizational. The recipes are very difficult to find, as both the index and table of contents make finding an individual recipe very difficult. For example, Ghomi is not listed anywhere on it's own, but rather, under "cornmeal." If you went to a restaurant in Georgia and had this wonderful dish, you'd spend a LOT of time trying to find it. Same with Elargi.All in all, its ok, but I can't really give it more than that.

I purchased this book as a gift, but have not sent it because of its weight. The history and current issues including great recipes, beautiful photos makes this book have value!

Due to having to cancel our vacation to Georgia and an amazing food tour of Tbilisi, I purchased this cookbook for my Mom. She LOVES it. The recipes are amazing but she also fell in love with the stories, photos, and love put into this special book. Truly a treasure!

We are from the region. We love the book not only for recipes but for pictures and history. I was able to find all ingredients on line. Very different, very cultural. We scheduled Georgian dinners on some Fridays and found some Georgian wine. Fantastic.

This is probably one of, if not the, best publications on Georgian food and wine culture in the English language. If recipes are your thing, I’ve tested many of Capalbo’s for my online Georgian food encyclopedia, and they largely hold up quite well. That said, for diversity / accessibility of recipes, specifically, you’ll probably want to supplement this with Tuskadze and Goldstein’s two books respectively, as well.In terms of travelogue and a contemporary description of the local wine culture (as well as food) this book is second to none.

The author takes one on an incredible culinary and travel journey.

There is one recipe in this book (Tskhare Neknebi) that alone made it worth buying for me, but there are so many! The fabulous cheese breads! It is beautifully illustrated for those who like that, but for me food books should be about food and this one really is a culinary tour. You will have to get into Georgian spices, but you will be thankful for the opportunity to get to know this flavour palette. And then there are the Georgian wines, to go with...HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Amazingly well presented book. It combines a fascinating description of history, scenery and people of the Georgian Caucasus with tasty recipes for local food and accounts of the traditional Georgian wine. An essential purchase for anyone who has travelled in the region and enjoys food and cooking.