Charles de Gaulle – French president once famously remarked, that it’s impossible to govern a nation that has developed 246 varieties of cheese. While we, the Georgians are not bad as the French, we’d like to think our individually is well expressed in medley of Georgian cheese. So is it less or more? Or less is more?

No Georgian feast would ever be complete without a good portion of Georgian cheese, be it fresh and soft such as Sulguni and Imeruli or Gouda – a hard mountain cheese made with sheep’s milk, traditionally aged in sheepskin. Most Georgians would admit, that while they can easily omit meat from their diet – as they often do during the lent observed by many Georgians these days – going off cheese tends to be much harder. A simple fare of Georgian salad and Lobio – bean stew, typically a poor man’s meal, may not be much in itself, but add Sulguni – a full fat, calcium-rich cheese soaked in milky brine – and you’ve got a Georgian feast.

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