Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown | Tbilisi, Georgia | S07 E05 | All Documentary

Anthony Bourdain explores Georgia's Black Sea city Batumi and capital Tbilisi, covering casinos, hangover cuisine, Soviet legacy and Georgian hospitality.

Key Takeaways

Georgia's history of Soviet rule, independence struggles and geopolitical pressure shapes its present identity.
Georgian cuisine is rich and complex, rooted in tradition yet open to innovation by young chefs.
Hospitality and drinking rituals, including toasts, are central to Georgian social life.
Batumi and Tbilisi reflect contrasting rhythms: a seasonal resort town versus a fast-changing capital.

What the video covers

Bourdain, stranded in Istanbul by a storm, sends producer Zamir ahead to Georgia to film local segments in Batumi.
Batumi in the off-season is portrayed as a mix of ambitious construction and quiet casinos frequented mostly by Turkish visitors.
The team gambles at a casino and then visits nightclubs, with Bourdain joking about his poor luck and the strong local drinks.
Traditional Georgian dishes such as hashi (a beef-bone hangover soup) and chashushuli (veal stew) are sampled at a local restaurant.
Bourdain reflects on Georgia's history as a Soviet republic, its post-1991 struggles with corruption, gangsterism and economic collapse.
In Tbilisi, a chef is shown reinventing classic Georgian cuisine, facing resistance from traditionalists including his own grandmother.
The episode discusses the Russian border and the threat of creeping border shifts that have affected Georgian families.
Georgian toasting customs, with large drinking horns and strict etiquette, are described as central to hospitality.
Bourdain discusses his preference for avoiding officials and tourist boards, emphasizing independent, unfiltered experiences.
The episode closes with a range of Georgian appetizers and cheeses, with a joke that they cure hangovers.

Chapters

Why does Bourdain send Zamir to Georgia instead of going himself?

Bourdain was stranded in Istanbul by hurricane-like weather that grounded his flight. He needed someone on the ground quickly, so he sent producer Zamir from Moscow to Batumi to begin filming.

What traditional Georgian foods are featured in the episode?

Hashi, a beef-bone broth often eaten as a hangover remedy, and chashushuli, a slow-cooked veal stew with onion, tomato, coriander, fennel, garlic and chilies, are highlighted in the episode.

What historical context does the episode provide about Georgia?

Georgia was a Soviet republic for nearly 70 years and has been independent since 1991. Bourdain describes a difficult post-Soviet period marked by civil war, regional conflict, corruption and Russian military pressure.

Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown

Speaker A

[Music] no [Music] to georgia [Music] felt the cool rain on my shoulder [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] right [Music] [Music] georgia is probably a place you don't know much about few americans i suspect could place it

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on a map it's small compared to the superpowers around it but vital its significance far exceeding its relative size for nearly 70 years it was a soviet republic and since independence in 1991 georgia has been on a wild and often

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deeply troubled ride as it struggles to attain and maintain democracy there has been a civil war regional strife and numerous provocations and invasions by russia geopolitically it's located in a hot spot a strategic crossroads surrounded by russia turkey armenia oil producing

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azerbaijan and just a short distance away syria and iran i wanted very much to see georgia but in november of 2015 i was having a very tough time getting there the hard realities of a television production schedule required me to be in

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georgia's shiny new version of vegas on the sea batoomi but here i was stuck in istanbul hurricane-like weather conditions grounded my flight on the other side of the sea it's an unforgiving medium television and the first principle is that one

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minute you're on top of the world next minute replaced by a younger prettier face somebody hungrier with fire in their belly [Music] i knew just such a person someone who'd been hungering for my job for ages peter piper picked a peck of pickled peppers

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i'm talking about samir of course only a short flight away in moscow and ready at the drop of a hat to jump on a plane and be my eyes and ears and batoon i may have misrepresented things a

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little bit i may have promised him a recurring role in the show but i needed somebody on the ground and i needed him quickly this is cnn [Music] when the producers of the american television program parts are known

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telephoned me and explained that i wouldn't have to pay for anything i took from the minibar i was confident this was the break i was waiting for maybe this was the glorious future for me and cable news you go a little bit to your

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right a little more but just when my plan for becoming next wolf blitzer are about to come true tony arrives smashing my hopes on the reef of television broken dreams we feel like home you know it's like it's georgie now it could be another

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state right well how did you get here what via what route luckily there is a direct flight twice a week though from moscow to batumi two and a half hours that's all yeah just oh all right what are we drinking samir this is the

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important question do you feel like you're ready for some tropical field i don't have some surprise of cha cha it's like moonshine okay i'll have i'll try that because apparently i'm gonna be apparently i'm gonna be drinking a lot

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of it while i'm in georgia this is i understand uh it's part of local hospitality and but it's over 40 degrees like alcohol proof welcome to georgie hope it will be an interesting trip for you a lot of things to learn

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if we were to go to a casino tonight for instance what do you think what is your game of choice poker yes maybe or watch yeah like maybe yeah yeah that's that's quick james bond played baccarat not that good at that but let's see what

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they have not much going on in batumi off-season as it turns out the casinos are still going for the benefit mostly of turkish dudes hopping across the border from their country where such vices are frowned upon [Music] brutal

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tough day at the office [Music] is that a great philosopher wesley snipes what you said always been on black going all in here okay come on back come on black yes it's a good start tony let it ride

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run the rabbit's run [Laughter] [ __ ] should be some nightlife i mean the losers deserve some relief right yeah nothing like a loser at a nightclub and i am an 8 loser so let's go let's go yeah

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unsurprisingly zamir and i suck at gambling with a force equivalent to a thousand suns i should have just pulled my pants down and handed over my money the second we walked in the door but actually that came later

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i'm mesmerized by this bowl of electronic snakes you're changing colors either that or i have a brain hemorrhaging now changing colors everything's fine [Music] arena rocky rocky [Music] maybe it's time to think of new year resolutions as we have

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inspiring moments tony this is an interesting moment of my life i'm trying to get something going on and knowing your creativity new opportunities [Music] are you welcome in turkey yeah [Music] that's right [Music] uh [Music] [Music] batumi in daytime is a strange looking

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place not exactly forlorn off season just odd a mix of what are obviously big dreams and current realities what is going on here they're building everywhere commercial and residential properties rising up out of the ground every few yards it goes on and on

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i meet up with sabir at sazandari one of the city's older more traditional joints tony how are you feeling uh like something crawled inside my head defecated and then died listen i think we're getting old just kidding though you're looking very svelt i have

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to say i'm i'm impressed i love you kidding me uh you look good up on that bowl well listen if we are on the blacklist again i think that's the end of my career but you know it was a brief

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but magnificent pole dancing career i can tell you you went out in a flame of glory i i i wasn't prepared that they're so puritan kind of you know country and people are kind of you know i thought they had some

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sense of humor but care of the dog yeah [Music] well so we're eating and what what's well traditionally you know george's is the man's world i mean men drink eat party and the women normally do know how to make

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people healthy and alive next morning after heavy drinking so hashid it's kind of broth and it's made of beef bones and joints so the whole idea is just suck out what alcohol still remains so it's a hangover soup it's kind of always okay

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oh yeah there's stripes in there yeah lots of joints this is not the first thing i think of for a hangover actually already maybe this will help it goes well with garlic the trigger yeah i just dumped a

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whole bunch of garlic in there you think it's marketable in the states as a real hangover dish i think there should be a lot of clientele [Music] no no not really the hashi is not really working for me

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but i absolutely love the chasha shuli a stew of slow cooked veal with onion and tomato heavily seasoned with coriander fennel garlic and chilies spicy i mean it's really like got some good zing in there yeah feeling better i am good

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so what is the club called offering you a job not yet i think it's very tough competition on the front to georgia as grateful as i am for him stepping in in my time of need it's time for zamir

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to head back off to moscow i ain't no fool the man clearly wants my job [Music] tibilisi in the eastern part of the country is georgia's capital city and it's very different in every respect from batumi's off-season amusement park

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vibe it's an old city founded in the 5th century but also a very new city 1.2 million people building their own world freshly emerged from some very very dark times it's a pretty incredible story strong rock solid orthodox christian tradition

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a whole hell of a lot of years under the soviet boot years of totally wild west gangsterism endemic corruption now it's a very different story tbilisi is changing fast so i don't know what it says about a place that since i've arrived in this

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country i've been in literally a constant state of i'm either drinking or hungover yeah yeah or both yeah yeah is that normal that's normal yeah especially for visitors they're friendly here but but it's a friendly kidnapping you know well i actually i

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i've i've read accounts of people who actually were kidnapped in this country who yeah it happened once with the u.n monitors they had disappeared they came back like 10 pounds heavier and hungover they found them in a cabin up in the

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mountains partying they they bumped into a wedding party and were there for two days so how long have you lived here about 12 years 12 13 years so you've been hungover for 12 years yeah yeah pretty much paul rimple is an american-born

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journalist and he's seen it all he takes me to belisi's old city to eat at the gabriadze cafe when you first arrived who was who was running things back then edward chevron ah those were so the bad old days yes

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it's a real mixed legacy because the nation was still functioning as a an outlaw ex-soviet you know nation and then sakishi really just kind of emerged right and the rose revolution happened and you know everything changed the country has run through a number of

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heads of state since the end of soviet rule first was former minister of foreign affairs to the soviet union edward shepard nodzing who was ousted in 2003 but to get a handle on georgia today you must understand the importance of one

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man mikhail sakishvili after chevron he was elected president in 2004 and began to change everything misha as everybody knew him transformed the country and by making friends in the west in europe and the us he gained a lot of

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attention both good and bad in 2013 though he was ousted by the georgia dream party who are still in power today most americans watching this show will have a hard time even locating georgia on a map yeah what do you think people need to know

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about this country two things in georgia that are untouchable the church don't mess with the church and don't mess with georgian food don't mess with georgian food yeah don't mess with the church okay i get it but to the food why

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because um it's tradition don't mess with tradition i'm quickly finding that the cuisine here is really good really complex with sweet sour notes that are reminiscent of i don't know i just know it feels hauntingly familiar yet utterly new and

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delicious salad with orange almonds and honey grilled lamb ribs with pomegranate sauce slices of fried eggplant wrapped around a walnut filling and chicken ruling chicken slow baked in an oven and then simmered in garlic and milk [Music] and george's will tell you there's

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there's no alcoholics in georgia no alcoholics right do you believe that absolutely not how do i get out of drinking how do i avoid chugging uh jojo say you have a heart condition a heart condition yeah nothing short of that

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will help no jeez [Music] there it is perched on a hilltop overlooking the capital like the lair of ernest starro blowfield the bond arch villain helipad check private zoo check the big shimmering glass box owned by georgia's richest man

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betzina ivanishvili known variously as the good oligarch and as the mysterious guiding hand behind well everything seldom seen in public ivanishvili after making billions in russia went in a politics in his homeland creating the georgia dream party and ultimately becoming prime minister

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in 2012. not everybody is on board however [Music] and her pro-western decidedly anti-russian defend liberty coalition are in vocal opposition recently a move by the ruling party to sign a deal with russia's gazprom for all georgia's oil needs has caused

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dissension [Applause] [Music] we meet at sofia melnikovas a much loved bistro for the most loved perhaps most iconic georgian dish kingali i understand that that georgia is not the releasing but if looking around compared to 2008 life looks good there's money in

Speaker A

the streets shiny new cars no well the thing is that yes things have changed after the collapse of the soviet union georgia was the country that suffered the most among the former soviet republics economically i mean economy totally collapsed corruption

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like became like just the normal way of living truly a pretty miraculous transformation unlike yeah well any place it happened because like people wanted it i mean and there was there was this demand that's why revolution took place

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oh man look at that wow that looks sensational yeah big fat juicy soup dumplings filled with spicy cumin jack minced beef and hot rich potentially scalding broth you you have never tried that i have never no i'm new to this country

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um according to traditions yes you're eating it with with with fingers okay and that's that's the whole thing so well wow these are terrific i mean this is not something very sophisticated this is a very religious country people identify themselves closely with

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christianity family based exactly and there seems to be a point beyond which the population will not go and to come around to comrade putin um he seems to understand this very very well the way putin operates is that like

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first putin emanates strength i mean he's a bad guy i mean there is a consensus like 80 percent of georgians like believe that george putin is a very bad guy and russia is a threat but he's on the

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winning side yeah exactly so he's a winner so they don't judge winners and they say okay we're bad but west is worse are they wrong of course they are wrong [Music] wherever you find a traditional religious conservative society you find

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a countervailing force georgians as a rule are passionate about tradition about the way things are supposed to be done [Music] but that doesn't mean there aren't rebels here people pushing hard against the status quo daring creative souls like chef takuna gacha chalaze

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at culinarium she's taking to extremes the notion that georgian food is in fact a fusion of all the past influences of the many forces who've made their way and forced their way through the tiny country she's focused on the next generation

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something that was said to me early on what i need to know about georgians don't speak badly of religion and don't mess with the food for me without innovation tradition will die because we can't we can't eat the

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same dishes what we used to eat in the beginning of the century because then the people did go for the hunt for two weeks right and now we're sitting in front of computer and we can't take so much fat it's it's need some lighter

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version of it and i'm trying to modernize georgian cooking i think you're hungry so now we have to cook this is the queen's soup with the caramelized onions and then the swanoli salt really good it's good with my hangover oh good

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that's good because i have a hangover eat some more soups like this all day and then we're gonna drink cha-cha and you don't wanna have a hangover at all on my way to a new one this is georgia you know you're having a

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hangover you're carrying yourself every day and then next day you still have a hangover and then you're carrying oh my god i mean i'm an amateur i think we have to do the one shot it's gonna help you and it's gonna help

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me why not and some wild trout tartare that's delicious so when you first started departing from the classics what was the reaction from people what do you think it was big like um controversial even my grandmother she's like when i

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make try these new things why why you have to do this and this is the very popular dish chaka pool it is and then from love of chacapuli i'm trying to make people eat muscles because the muscle is not very popular

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beautiful muscles too yeah we have very good muscles so we need now one more shot so are there some georgian dishes that should never change i always feeling very strongly to preserving original dishes it's good to have this original

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version right but i'm giving the other option to do something new in my vision it's always to have a choice look it's a beautiful city it's in the countryside is fantastic the people are nice and the food is really

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extraordinary really really really something special it is the drinking however is a problem [Music] policy is one thing an increasingly modern city smart cafes boutique hotels shops galleries the inevitable spore of hipsters but outside the city it's not so

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different than it always was agrarian traditional things done the way they've always been done the way it's believed they should be done until you reach the bizarro world along the border only 90 kilometers northwest from tbilisi in villages like this one corvalletti

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where tiny george's predicament comes clearly and brutally into focus [Music] over there the russian-controlled breakaway region formerly georgian of south ossetia the russians took it in a five-day war in 2008. it's russia now this side of the wire is at this precise

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moment anyway georgia but who knows the border has been known to inch forward unpredictably often in the dead of night to the point that families have gone to sleep in georgia and woken to find themselves living in russia swallowed up

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overnight before 2008 corvalletti was home to more than 60 families today just nine families are left hanging on so that cow is in south cetia both of them there was a story actually on that an old lady basically woke up and her cow

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appeared to be on the other side of the fence because they did it during the night right and so she would walk up every morning and would milk her through the fence to get her milk it can be that bad yeah

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journalist and fixer dima bit suleiman covered the war here seven years ago and continues to report from the region so like that house they had the misfortune to go to sleep in georgia and wake up in russia exactly

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but look at this you see this this is where the russians sit and that is the base probably communication base so they're probably now watching us and the sign says attention state border so that's something that appeared recently

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thoughtfully in english [Laughter] the main problem to me is that we're like couple of kilometers away from the highway moving this border and blocking this highway would stop all the activity in the country basically so right now the the caspian oil and gas

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go through georgia and that's the only route right except russia i mean bypassing russia there's an implied threat you know that's you're saying if i can do this i can certainly go all the way right down to the highway at which point

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basically there's a pipeline just here so this is really a hand around your throat absolutely every day that's why every 50 meters or even meter which may be not that important for the whole country like short-term economic point of view it doesn't matter right

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but in terms of political threats every meter is another step towards the catastrophe we're here for a supra at the home of ushangi and magwala kokashvili a subra is like a feast super traditional a pig is dispatched and broken into

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constituent parts the neighbors pitch in helping to make three different varieties of a traditional cheese filled bread known as kachipuri variously stuffed here with potato beet leaves and stewed cabbage and there's one thing that we always do in georgia we eat fresh herbs always

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and this is homemade wine beer is i gather a very formal structure to these toasts for the first few toasts at least seven-ish i would say well you sort of lose the plot after seven no no that is not a lot

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here's how a typical supra works it's more formal than it looks custom must be observed certain rituals performed proceedings are led by the tamara or toastmaster often the head of the house the big cheese the dude but always the

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guy with the best rhetorical skills and the guy best able to stay sober while all around him are well not because there's a lot of drinking in a supra it's required in this case our hosts have called upon igor their

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next-door neighbor after each toast your glass of wine or cha cha god forbid must and i mean must be drained completely and refilled to the rim you're toasting some pretty heartfelt serious [ __ ] here so hang in there and

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show some respect [Music] which is tough because the drink receptacles can grow larger as the toasts progress to like this horn for instance which is used because you can't even if you wanted to put it down anything less

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than empty because it'll like pour all over the table so drink up then there's a mug and so on [Music] to georgia then it's time for the food roast stuffed goose and shashlik grilled kabobs a pork with a sour plum

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sauce there's also korma a slow cooked stew of the pig's heart and liver with onions bay leaves and parsley it's good bread [Music] [Music] if we have a choice we prefer west to russia because the future for our

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children is much better there but they're still here we're not afraid they're here but we sleep peacefully without without fear and he says if they come we'll be here we'll meet them here it's been six years we couldn't go to

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the to the graves [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] working on it i'll get there [Music] the wine region of georgia is called kaketi a beautiful area east of tbilisi made up of foothills and valleys below the caucasus mountains in the hilltop village of signage

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there's a well-known restaurant called pheasants tears the chef is a local guy gia rokashvili who works with watts from the area nothing too fancy but always soulful and delicious and always served with local wines i like to show off my country

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you know i want to sometimes scream look this is my country come and visit maybe it's part of my culture part of my personality yeah we are just proud of our country now you should know this about me and

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the people i work with we don't like working with officials we avoid tourist boards official advisors government employees we certainly don't hang out with ministers of the countries we're shooting in who always always have an agenda and always want to skew our

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perspective on our subject but keti bokarishvili is an exception she is the deputy minister of economy a remarkable woman more remarkable for the fact that she's a unique holdover from the previous administration she goes on and on never stopping in her

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efforts to convince the world that georgia georgia is the place to be and if you spend any time with this ferociously smart woman and her friend gallery owner tamuna gavabaritze you will understand and forgive us all all of us on the crew for becoming

Speaker A

completely beguiled i like the food already i love the food okay good food you like i hope wine you like and then if you like skiing then that's the place and you have to dance also george and dance

Speaker A

really i'm really really appalling no no you don't do that did you know you now i'm frightened two three glasses of cha-cha and you're ready to dance enough cha-cha anything is possible i'm gonna toast take this breath uh

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let's toast for the i'm continuously thinking right now to achieve our goals and the dreams to dreams the ladies convinced us to make the 90-minute drive to this village and this restaurant and well i'm quite happy they did

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by the time i've had some more of that delicious and lethal cha-cha and many glasses of delicious georgian wine after boiled beets and a wild plum sauce and freshly foraged mushrooms with chili pepper and mint and tarragon baby lamb stewed in its own fat with

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cumin then cooked together with wild rice biryani style and delicious delicious tanispuri bread straight out of the outdoor tandoor-like clay oven after all this i am convinced i am co-opted i am recruited count me as a useful idiot a winning

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agent of the georgian ministry of tourism for i may as well be but um i have to underline also that georgian people are very optimistic uh very cheerful uh they always see you know future in a very uh and that drives the

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you know drives then optimism not a lot of it in this world right now i visit a lot of countries people are unusually helpful and friendly here um how should i put this people are really good-looking i mean okay look at how is it

Speaker A

he has better hair i'm so happy that he says that he likes george really i why would i not yeah you're becoming a georgian be careful we are all humans and we all love each other so we can sit around the table and

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we can just love each other and especially with the help of wine we can love more awesome you know georgians also like to drink for peace because peace was so important in our life so i think we need to change

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now it's your turn to say the toast to this extraordinary place that has managed against all odds to endure all these years against so many powerful forces to two magnificent women thank you [Music] in this nether neighborhood just up the

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hill from downtown to belizea is where yorgy gelavani is hosting a dinner the food's being prepared by mariko gubelazzi the chef of the city's beloved black lion brass re and it is going to be epic how did you

Speaker A

find this this product is really good not too salty for you we love salted cheese so do i okay it's great for your hangover they say that about a lot of things here i noticed a variety of georgian appetizers served

Speaker A

pre-dinner kind of like meze spinach with walnuts and wild capers pickled carrots cheese curd with roasted hazelnuts and mint roasted eggplant seasoned with coriander this thing is amazing carcho stewed chicken cooked slow with ajika chili sauce onions and the oft-used georgian

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spices marigold flower powder and blue fenugreek [Music] a lot of what we've been talking about since we got here is will georgia continue to look west or will it as the russians would prefer look to the east it's not like the last 200 years or

Speaker A

something it's throughout the existence of georgia even though we were surrounding them we had like our immediate neighbors where turkish persian arab or whoever else or russian okay the sort of the bias has always been towards with europe rather than with the east we

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believe that we were part of that that culture however distant we might have actually been by regional standards people don't lower their voices here when they give their opinion more or less okay it is as we never did

Speaker A

that's impressive honestly speaking i think we've done better than many of the soviet republics so what will it be like in ten years i mean are you optimistic absolutely i'm always optimistic i'm optimistic mildly after not optimistic not so yeah i would

Speaker A

say if george is still independent i'm very optimistic right hey the next one is absolutely yeah the next one is supposed to be for the children right come on or the lie our life man to dreamers [Music] eerily reminiscent though of mariachi

Speaker A

they're about pre-christian things things that have always been here since the beginning like wind and forests and forest spirits and lost love [Music] hauntingly beautiful and otherworldly kind of like georgia [Music] foreign [Music] you

Topics:Anthony BourdainParts UnknownGeorgiaTbilisiBatumiGeorgian cuisineSoviet historytravel documentaryBlack Seahangover soup

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