Khachapuri, a gooey, addictive, cheese-stuffed flatbread, is ubiquitous in Georgia, the Caucasian country that shares borders with Armenia, Azerbaijan, Russia and Turkey. Except for when there’s a funeral.
If you’re in a bad mood or sad… you should never even touch dough 
“If you’re in a bad mood or sad, when you’re grieving the death of a loved one or have a broken heart, you should never even touch dough; just stay away from it,” said my friend Mako Kavtaradze, a born-and-bred resident of the capital, Tbilisi, and executive director of Georgian spice company Spy Recipe. “If you’re not in a happy mood, we will be able to tell when we taste the khachapuri that you make.”
Khachapuri – a cheese-stuffed flatbread – is beloved in Georgia (Credit: Credit: Wingedbull/Alamy)
Khachapuri – a cheese-stuffed flatbread – is beloved in Georgia (Credit: Wingedbull/Alamy)
We were eating one of these dairy-and-carb bombs at a roadside restaurant on the Rikoti Pass in central Georgia, not far from the town of Surami, home to an ancient Jewish community. This version was from the nearby region of Imereti: a one-inch-thick, double-crusted wheel of dough stuffed with soft, molten cheese.Ειναι ιδιο με το δικο μας πεινιρλη.