Vegetables

Every Georgian meal features vegetables, both raw and cooked, and together with bread they form the foundation of Georgian cuisine. Folk wisdom calls for “onions, bread, and a kind heart”—nothing more is needed in life. One reason for the popularity of vegetables is their abundance; another reflects the religious proscriptions of the Georgian Orthodox Church. The church calendar set a strict regimen of fasts and feasts, and for religious Georgians in the past, nearly six months of the year represented days when they were expected to abstain from meat, eggs, and dairy products. Never ones to eat poorly, the Georgians devised delicious ways with the foods they were allowed to consume—vegetables and grains. Even on those days when meat and dairy products were permitted, more often than not Georgians cooked them with their favorite vegetables. For several centuries now Georgians have enjoyed such vegetables typical of the Mediterranean kitchen as eggplant and spinach, along with such new-world crops as green beans, potatoes, and peppers.