Food and Wine

The food in Imereti is western Georgian, with a focus on corn instead of wheat and distinctive vegetable cookery; its complex use of nuts and subtle spices reflects past connections with Byzantium and the Spice and Silk Routes. In general the food is lighter here than in eastern Georgia. Walnut pastes flavoured with marigold petals, Imeretian khachapuri, pomegranates and reduced blackberry sauces are staples on the menu in this agricultural area of small farms and holdings. If walnuts feature in many of the recipes, so do their leaves: they’re often used to line the clay dishes in which cornbread is baked, both to stop the bread from sticking and to impart a deeper flavour. This area is rich in fruits, from cherries and plums to the currently popular kiwi and feijoa. In the summer season you’ll find vendors along the roads selling baskets of raspberries, blackberries, wild apricots and forest mushrooms as well as local honeys and fruit preserves.