A great article recently appeared in New Yorker Magazine, “The Culinary Muse of the Caucasus” (April 29, 2019), which triggered a lot of interest for Georgian cooking and food.
The article tells the story of the Princess Barbare Jorjadze who wrote a book titled Georgian Cuisine and Tried Housekeeping Notes, an instructive yet fun culinary manual of the 19th century. Her helpful tips include pictures of more primitive kitchen utensils and a description of how a butcher would break down a cow two centuries ago. Many dishes were made of game, freshly killed, perhaps by an entourage of princely hunters. The Princess starts her recipes with artala soup, made with beef shin. Khashi, which is a tripe soup usually consumed early in the morning to cure a hangover, follows. Next, she describes stews, which she calls souzi—a word derived from Russian. Since Georgia was part of the Russian empire, the names of some dishes in the Princess’s cookbook reflect this foreign influence. The stews were a regular part of the Georgian diet, and ground meat was routinely used in many dishes such as tolma cabbage rolls, which the Princess calls golubtsi, and kebabis, which are skewers of grilled ground meat. High born, Barbare Jorjadze, née Eristavi, was a distinguished poet and writer. She is also highly regarded as one of Georgia’s first women’s rights advocate and educator. She gained respect as an intellectual equal with her male counterparts in Georgian literary circles. Barbare was born in 1833 and married at the age of twelve to a Georgian prince, largely remembered for his military presence and fondness for drinking. A daughter of Prince David Eristavi, she later recalled, "I was so young at my wedding that I thought it was some sort of game,". Today early marriages are one of the central issues for international advocacy groups. Later in life Barbare realized the inherent unfairness of these arrangements as well as inequities in education and opportunities for women. She wrote in her groundbreaking essay “J'Accuse”: “From a very young age, we are told, 'since god made you a woman, you must sit silently, look at nobody, go nowhere, shut your ears and your eyes, and just sit there. Education and learning of languages is none of your concern.'... Now you tell me, if this creature, kept uneducated and confined, ends up being less than perfect, who is to blame?" The Princess was educated by her nanny as the educational opportunities even for women born in an aristocratic society were severely limited. Barbare’s intellectual curiosity drew her to a lifelong love of reading, writing and activist role in Georgian society. Her self-confidence and determination led her to an encounter about modernizing Georgian language with Ilia Chavchavadze, an iconic public figure. Her identification with the national value of the Georgian culture came into conflict when Ilia Chavchavadze pushed for a more vernacular linguistic character. A charismatic leader, she was not intimidated even by the Father of the Nation as Chavchavadze was often called. Despite her intellectual prowess, the Princess, who was not wealthy, realized the importance of domestic knowledge with a prescient appreciation of home economics, from which her cookbook was born. "Women had been the custodians of knowledge and champions of literacy when men held to their weapons to defend the homeland." She authored the precursor to modern cookbooks and domestic economics entitled Georgian Cuisine and Tried Housekeeping Notes. Why would a privileged Princess be interested in writing a cookbook? The simple answer is she was interested in food and Georgian culinary traditions. Yet, I think there is much more to it. Writing about food is fun, but it is also intellectually stimulating. On a practical level, the kitchen was a domain for women who could exercise their culinary independence as the expression of feminine rule. As we scan through the roots of modern cookbooks, Barbare and America’s Fannie Farmer appear on the same wavelength in their respective times. They shared commitments to education and the cultural traditions of food preparation. They liberated cooking from mere nutritional sustenance to a creative activity. As forward-thinking women and leaders, they pushed the envelope beyond the pedestrian conception of the kitchen as the province of female servitude. As culinary pioneers, they built the bricks for contemporary interest in ethnic cuisines. Both the Princess and Fanny Farmer recognized the value of their respective national cuisines. In so doing, they awakened interest in food across the world. Barbare wrote down the recipes that were passed orally from generation to generation, for which food historians are very grateful. Fanny Farmer advanced even farther to a scientific, intellectually stimulating practice of recipes. As a food advocate and cookbook author, I am very glad that the Princess has been recognized for her instrumental role promoting a more disciplined approach to cooking. My many American friends contacted me in short order with enthusiasm once the New Yorker article was published. This excellent article brings Barbare Jorjadze and her works back to life. Barbare Jorjadze is as relevant today as hundred and twenty years ago. Gender equality and women’s rights remain in the vanguard of today’s social issues. Cooking is inspirational, and intellectual curiosity about food has exploded. The burgeoning interest in Georgian cooking owes a great debt to this modest Princess who helped capture the majesty of Georgian cuisine. I want also to thank the Princes for her leadership on so many fronts crucial for women of today and challenging men to "abandon pride and envy, and let your sisters have an equal access to education and tutoring ... and the new generation of women will spare no labor and energy to contribute their share to progress."
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In the PressThe New Yorker:
The Culinary Muse of the Caucasus The New York Times: Putting a Fresh Spin on Traditional Georgian Cooking at Pirosmani Saveur: The Lost Cheeses of GeorgiaOF GEORGIA AuthorArchives
September 2019
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