Khachapuri


Khachapuri is a traditional Georgian dish of cheese-filled bread. The bread is leavened and allowed to rise, molded into various shapes, and then filled in the center with a mixture of cheese, and sometimes eggs or other ingredients.
It is popular in Georgia, both in restaurants and as street food. As a Georgian staple food, the price of making khachapuri is used as a measure of inflation in different Georgian cities by the "khachapuri index", developed by the International School of Economics at Tbilisi State University. It is Georgia's national dish, included in the list of the intangible cultural heritage of Georgia. On the behalf and initiative of the Gastronomic Association of Georgia, the 27th of February was announced as National Khachapuri Day, to celebrate Georgia's signature pastry as well as to promote its recognition internationally.
The khachapuri is served hot from the oven, otherwise it loses the taste of its unique cheese mixture and becomes bitter.

Etymology

"ხაჭო" is perhaps borrowed into Georgian from Abkhazian ахырҵәы. პური is from Ancient Greek πυρός.

History

Specialists are divided regarding the chronology of khachapuri. According to Darra Goldstein, who wrote the book The Georgian Feast about the dish, khachapuri probably dates back to the 12th century when Georgia experienced a period of renaissance, but its specific root remains unclear. Dali Tsatava, former professor at the Georgian Culinary Academy, suggested that khachapuri could be a "cousin of the pizza" as the concept of the dish might have been brought by Roman soldiers who crossed Europe, well before the addition of tomatoes in the 16th century.

Types

There are several distinctive types of khachapuri from different regions of Georgia:
  • Imeretian khachapuri is the most popular form, made with a yeast dough filled with white Imeretian salted cheese.
  • Adjarian, named for Adjara, a region of Georgia on the Black Sea, is a boat-shaped khachapuri, with cheese, butter, and an egg yolk in the middle. Traditionally, tangy imeruli and sulguni cheeses are used.
  • Megrelian khachapuri is similar to Imeretian, but has more cheese added on top.
  • Achma, from Abkhazia, has multiple layers and resembles a sauceless lasagna.
  • Gurian khachapuri has chopped boiled eggs inside and looks like a crescent-shaped calzone. Gurians make them for Christmas and call them simply "Christmas pie." In the rest of Georgia, it is called "Gurian pie."
  • Ossetian khachapuri has potato and cheese as its filling. It is commonly called khabizgini.
  • Svanuri lemzira
  • Rachuli khachapuri
  • Samtskhe–Javakhetian penovani khachapuri is made with cheese-filled puff pastry dough, resulting in a flaky variety of the pie.

    Outside Georgia

Khachapuri is popular in the post-Soviet states, including Russia. It was reported that 175,000 khachapuris were consumed during the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. Khachapuri is a popular street food in Armenia, where it is widely served in restaurants and school cafeterias. It has become increasingly popular as a brunch food in Israel, where it was brought over by Georgian Jews and is spreading to other parts of the world, like the United States.