Around the Georgian Table: Recipes of My Childhood

Born and raised in Georgia, Madona Giorgadze not only self-published this book, she was also her own photographer in an effort to document the food she grew up eating.

With clean, simple page design and some very appealing pictures, Around the Georgian Table presents traditional fare. Recipe titles are in English as well as Georgian, and also appear in Mkhedruli, the script used in modern Georgian life.

In general, ingredient lists are simple and preparation does not require elaborate technique, though instructions are explicit where they need to be. Herbs are more abundant than spices, and there is a certain thrifty use-the-whole-animal quality that appears in recipes such as marinated pork trotters and liver in pomegranate sauce.

An appealing chapter on breads includes Christmas pie, filled with cheese and hard-boiled eggs, as well as the famous khachapuri, and a tarragon pie.

There are 120 recipes in all.

Hardcover. Color photographs throughout.