Khachapuri!

Khachapuri is the most common Georgian snack or meal. It is essentially a cheese pie, made in many different ways. You can buy these cheese pies for less than a dollor from street vendors, or can get them for 4-6 US dollars in a restaurant.

Georgian cuisine, including Khachapuri, is made with Sulgani cheese. It is a cheese you cannot find in the states. It is a unique, pickled cheese, and a staple of Georgian cuisine. Very salty and served in wedges for breakfast and fried in many dinner dishes. It is part of every continental hotel breakfast as well.

Hotel Continental breakfast: Assorted cheeses featuring varieties of Sulgani. Assorted meats and sausages. Breads. Hard boiled eggs, or (perhaps) some other variety of eggs. Jams made with fresh fruits, sour cream, some other cottage cheese-like cheese or ricotta-like cheese - excellent. Yogurt. OJ. Occasionally some water. Sometimes, bottles of vodka available at breakfast - whoa! Too early for me, but at no extra cost. Fresh vegetables - cucumbers and tomatoes, usually with a vinegrette on top. Fruits - Kiwi, citrus, apples, parsimmons.

If you don't know your khachapuris before you venture to Georgia, it's not a big deal. Any one that you order will be yummy. If you are ordering from a street vendor, you can just point to one, and surprise! You'll love it.

The following pics are all from the web, since I did not, to my regret, have any Khachapuri pics.

Khachapuri Acharuli. This is a large boat shaped bread dish filled with cheese and butter, then baked. After baking, an egg is cracked on top, and then the raw egg is covered with cool slices of butter. The butter topping is supposed to cover the egg and cook the egg (a tiny bit). If you would like to have a heart attack, eat these every day. Delicious, but very rich. I found it hard to eat 1/3 of a serving!


Khachapuri Megruli. Looks like a pizza, but has cheese on the inside too! The cheese is saltier than cheese you would find on an american pizza.



Khachapuri Penovani. This is my favorite. It is a flaky, croissant like dough with cheese in the middle. Yumm! Get these from street vendors, it will cost you about .60 cents for a large portion.



Another Khachapuri Penovani. Yum!

Khachapuri Lobiani. Same thing, but with beans inside. I never got around to trying one of these, but I'm sure they are yummy.

Many more Khachapuris are available. Try as many as possible if you are visiting Georgia.