Georgian Language Day

Road Sign in Georgian and English

There are too few days set apart to celebrate language, so even if it's for a language with only 4 million speakers, it's noteworthy. The Georgian language is one the average person probably knows little about. Georgian isn't related to either of its neighbors (Azerbaijani is Altaic, and related to Turkish, whereas Armenian is Indo-European), and is only related to the much lesser known languages of Svans, Mingrelians, and Laz. It's also a language with a long history--dating back to at least the 2nd century. The language has its own alphabet, and is well known for its insanely long consonant clusters (for example გვფრცქვნი transliterated as gvprckvni, which would mean "You peel us").  The language also derives many of its words from roots. For example, the root kart could be used to form the words Kartveli (a Georgian person), Kartuli (Georgian language), and Sakartvelo (what Georgians call their nation).  Ultimately, the language has a long literary history as well.

Chakhokhbili (Chicken with herbs) with Mtsvane Lobios Salati (Green Bean Salad)

Georgia also has an excellent though little known culinary history. The Caucasus region is blessed with a variety of vegetables, fruits, and spices. I found a ton of recipes on this website, and had a hard time choosing among them. It'd been a while since we'd had chicken, so I went with the simple chicken and herbs recipe. I wasn't able to get all the spices so I improvised a bit and added some thyme. I made the green bean salad just by steaming green beans, and making a vinaigrette with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. You'll notice mashed potatoes on the plate, which was actually a Dutch recipe (with onions, garlic, and cabbage mashed in). I know it doesn't fit in, but I felt the meal needed some starch, and it's how I like to make to make my mashed potatoes. It was a very enjoyable meal and the chicken tasted amazing. We hope to be able to try more of the Georgian recipes off the site above in the future.