Georgian Feast

Georgia has an ancient history and culture. It’s obvious that our traditions have changed after so many years, but still, they are “alive” because of people’s effort.

Georgians behavior also depends on Georgian traditions and culture and history, of course.

Comparing to American and British behavior, Georgians are most like Americans, than British, I think.

First of all, Georgian cuisine offers endless varieties of dishes, because Georgians like feasts. And, I think, many people know Georgian “Supra” and “Tamada”, etc.

It’s called a tradition of Supra and all the people in every family knows the rules. It’s something inevitable when you’re visiting Georgia and you visit someone at home, or, maybe not at home, but somewhere in a restaurant, or even in the streets, where there are some parks or just tables in any yard and so on and so forth. Well, and of course, it’s usual to celebrate holidays by feast at home. It’s rude when you refuse food that is offered. This becomes even dangerous if you are visiting West Georgia.

Woman, particularly, like to offer you dishes that they have prepared and they offer you them million times -it’s like a habit- and, boy, if you turn their offer down! Remember, you should not do that! I think, it’s better if you take a small piece and, maybe you are so full, that you can’t eat anything and if you eat something, you feel, that you will blow up or, you know, that another thing, that happens in times like that… you know what I mean!

So, when that woman sees you took some piece of the dish, she just stops offering dishes. But, that’s not the end! This is just for some time, and then she’ll just start over. So, now you understand, why I told you to take just a small piece of it, right? Because, you can just gather all those things together on your plate and while that woman might be watching you whether you are eating her offered dish that you took a piece from, you can just pretend you are eating slowly, so that she won’t start bothering you. And then, when the time comes for the desert.oh, the cakes and fruits and coffee- everyone just forgets what you ate and what you left on your plate. So I’m just saying, that if you wait for a little while, you’ll be able to get rid of all the unwanted things and the feast will be great.

Okay, so, you thought that was all? Well, not so fast! There is so much more, that I am a little bit confused what to tell you about it all. This is just a long list of all those things that every one of the Supra members do, should do or should not do. It’s about you and others and others and you, because this is you visiting them, and you’re their guest and it’s all about you, if you ask them, and they all want to please and surprise you and they want you to like them and not think of them as some people, who didn’t even care about you visiting them.

Okay, so there are two aspects of this situation: whether you belong to ladies or gentlemen. And so there will be two stories of how your visit to that particular people will develop and end.

Well, maybe if you are a woman you have a higher chance of getting out of this situation in a better shape, than if you are a man.

So, if you're a woman and you visit some family in Georgia, you will have to listen to women gossip about themselves and other women they know or they don't know. They have to sit there all evening and listen to toasts that Tamada says and drink a little and easy offered dishes, etc.

If you are a man, there is a whole different situation there and it's much worse than being a woman on a supra. So, first of all, you'll meet all the important men on that supra and get to know their names and stuff like that until the supra starts. You can even play some checkers or backgammon with the host or some other guy.

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