Cjss second Issue: cjss second Issue qxd

Fig 7: Different kinds of 
Khachapuri 
exist 
i
In Georgia today.
This version can be
found in Mengrelia, Nokalakevi 
(© Söderlind, Ulrica, 2007).
Khinkali (xinkali [khinkali]) is also a typical Georgian special dish and,
along with Khachapuri, is considered as a national dish. Khinkali is a kind of
filled dumpling. Grey flour (such as flour from rye), rather than white wheaten
flour is used to make the dough, which consists of flour, salt and water. The
dough is rolled out, round pieces are cut out and minced ham and pork are
placed on top of them. The minced meat is flavoured with chopped unions, (in
some cases also garlic) egg, pepper, and green herbs (such as parsley, corian-
der, cumin etc). The Khinkali with meat filling is the most common variety, al-
though cheese, potato and mushrooms are also used for this purpose. The
dough is wrapped around the filling and the dumpling is twisted around sev-
eral times, the best made one is the one that is twisted around twelve times.
The dumplings are put into boiling water and are served with butter and
black pepper (
Georgian dishes, s.l., s.d.,30)
.
The dumplings are eaten by hand without the use of any cutlery. The
dumpling is picked up by hand where the dough been twisted round. That
part is harder then the rest and not as hot either as the remainder of the
dumpling. The eating of Khinkali is an art form since all of the meat juice stays
inside the dumpling. It is not easy for a foreigner to eat Khinkali while main-
taining good table manner. As Chinkali is a filling dish, it is very common to
leave the part of the dumpling uneaten. Thus when a meal is finished it is pos-
sible to count how many Khinkali each person had eaten. Wine is not a good
choice while eating Khinkali. It is one of the few Georgian dishes when wine
is not recommended.
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Caucasus Journal of Social Sciences

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It is presumed that Khinkali is originated from China, where they were
originally named ‘Jiao Tzu’. From China they spread to Russia (Pelmeni) and
Central Asia (chuchvara). It is possible that the spread of the dish from China
to Georgia started with the Mongol invasion in the thirteenth century.
Closing Discussion and the Future
I am  still in the beginning of my research regarding the foodways of
Georgia and as the work moves forward new questions arise and need to be
answered.
An important question that arises and that is possible to answer as the
research proceeds, is whether if hops really  are depicted as surrounding the
God Mithra on the silver wine cup that dates to the Bronze Age, and whether
the God is drinking haoma. If this proves to be the case, it will indeed change
what is known to date about the haoma cult – that the cult was closely con-
nected to Mithra in the Persian Empire before the God was transformed into
Mithras during antiquity. Many researchers have devoted much effort in try-
ing to find out what the main intoxicating ingredient of the haoma beverage
was. Some say that mushrooms (Amanita Muscaria) were used, while others
are of the opinion that the original plant would have been a small bush that
secreted a strong smell and had bitter leaves. The haoma beverage was a very
intoxicating one and was also hallucinogenic. The plant that is in use today
among the worshippers and followers of Zoroaster is a different one – which
belongs to the Efediner (Peganum Harmala) family. The intoxicating and hal-
lucinogenic effects of this plant are not as strong as its forerunner. 
If, indeed,
the main ingredient in haoma was hops, there must have been some other in-
gredients in the beverage that gave the consumer the strong hallucinations.
What was the ingredient remains to be 
seen.
Even if the  research is still in its early stages, I consider that it is safe to
say that the cradle of wine-making is today’s Georgia. This is due to the early
discovery of cultivated grapes in complex societies dated to the chalcolitic era
in Georgia, and also, due to the fact that the inhabitants of these early societies
cultivated the vine in order to procure wine for drinking and not grapes for
eating, something that took place later – actually in the Bronze Age. I know
from sources written in antiquity that Greece took a great interest in the King-
dom of Colchis – the territory of modern western Georgia (
Lordkipanidze,
2000, p 11-12)
. As a result, Greece colonized the coast of Colchis and estab-
lished trading posts in Phasis (modern-day Poti), Gyenos, and Dioskuria
(modern-day Sokhumi). Phasis and Dioskuria became splendid Greek cities
dominated by mercantile oligarchies.
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Caucasus Journal of Social Sciences

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These cities became very important trading centers along the Black Sea
coast. Wine amphoras have been discovered near Poti (
Gamkrelidze, 1992,
p 108)
which shows that there was a developed export and import wine-trade
in existence. This shows that wine was an important and established product
in the society’s economy during the Grecian era – but it does not indicate
when wine became an important economic factor in society. However, just
because earlier societies, such as the chalcolithic one, have not left any written
records does not mean that wine was not an economic factor. So far, there
have been just a few maritime excavations in Georgia along the Black Sea
shore line, and if further excavations are allowed with a focus on locating
ships and boats from earlier periods, then it might be possible to indicate
when wine became an important economic factor in Georgia. I strongly be-
lieve that wine was an important economically long before antiquity and,
since Georgia was probably visited by people travelling along on the water-
ways since the Stone Age, discoveries from that period and the Bronze Age
would help to shed light on this question.
There are around six hundred species of grapes in Georgia today  (
Chi-
lashvili, op. cit., 2004, p 198-213)
. The wine louse (
Phylloxe’ra vasta’trix) that
was so devastating for the vineyards in Europe in the late nineteenth century
did not affect Georgia to the same extent. This means that even if Georgia has
lost some of its species, some ancient ones still exist. It would be very inter-
esting to collect samples from these wine stocks and to analyze them in order
to find out how they are related to each other, and also if the ancient stocks
are the ancestors of the modern ones. This can be done in cooperation with
biologists and plant pathologists that have access to several grape DNA banks
in Europe. 
With regard to the staple food – bread – there is still a significant amount
of work ahead of us in order to map out all the different kinds of bread that
exists in the country, and I have not yet completed the search of written
sources regarding bread and bread-making. For example, I am currently
working on  finding out where the ‘tone’ came from originally, discovering if
it indeed has its roots in the old civilizations of the Indus valley and
Mesopotamia.
I am also very interested in finding out why there are different varieties
of the dish Khachapuri in different parts of the country, and also how far back
in time I can trace it. As for Khinkali, I believe that it originated from China but
further research on this question is necessary before any firm conclusions in
this regard can be reached. However, I have a working theory about the dif-
fusion of the dish. I think is started to spread with the Mongolians and their
invasions. In Georgia, one cannot find Khinkali in the western part. I think
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Caucasus Journal of Social Sciences

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