Georgia: The Cookbook

For a limited time we have copies signed by Benjamin Kemper.

This inviting, often surprising collection of traditional home recipes is a strong introduction to Georgian cooking.  It emphasizes the cuisine's distinct identity, reclaiming a heritage that the Soviet era worked to homogenize.

Sometimes that identity shows in ingredients and flavor combinations rarely found elsewhere. Pkhali, a garlicky walnut spread that began as a dish of wild greens, appears in one version with butternut squash, barberries, and toasted pumpkin seeds. There are several versions of the iconic khachapuri. A masterclass on khinkali, the Georgian soup dumplings, covers fillings from mushroom to potato and cheese to ground beef and pork with cilantro.

The authors are a Georgian cultural heroine and an American expat. Meriko Gubeladze owns two restaurants in Tbilisi and hosted a weekly cooking show on Georgian national television for ten years. Benjamin Kemper, a journalist and former Saveur editor, is eager to bring Georgian culinary culture and history to a wider audience.

Frequent sidebars cover Georgian history, and a chapter is devoted to Soviet-era dishes that remain popular. Ample photographs of finished dishes and of Georgian towns and countryside help conjure a sense of place.

Hardcover. Color photographs throughout.