Georgia

A Single Entry and the Georgian Supra

Georgia's only link to the World Championship is one 1974 entry that never reached the grid, but its feasts, breads and walnut sauces deserve a long visit.

Georgia has never hosted a World Championship Grand Prix, and its tie to the sport in our records hangs by a single thread. The one driver linked to the country, Jorge de Bagration, was born in Rome, is described as a Spanish rally driver, and holds both Spanish and Georgian nationality in our data. His only World Championship entry came at the 1974 Spanish Grand Prix with a Surtees Ford, and he did not start the race.

Georgian cooking has a character all its own, though its place on the Silk Road left it sharing threads with Eastern Europe, the Middle East and the rest of the Caucasus. Every region prepares food in its own way. Eating and drinking stand at the center of social life, and the supra, a feast offered freely to family, friends and guests, is led by a tamada, a toastmaster who proposes the toasts and keeps the table entertained, a post more countries might consider creating.

Walnuts are everywhere, ground into sauces and pastes for chicken, vegetables and leeks, and in Guria and Imereti above all they define the cooking. Khachapuri, bread filled with cheese and often eggs, comes in many regional forms, from the open, boat shaped Adjarian version crowned with egg yolk and butter to the layered achma of Abkhazia. Kakheti, the region of wine, is famous for meat grilled over fire, for khinkali dumplings and for churchkhela, a sweet of grape juice and walnuts.

For a race weekend at home, a pot of chakhokhbili, a soup of poultry and tomatoes, or a dish of satsivi, chicken or turkey in walnut sauce, makes a gentle introduction to a deep and generous kitchen. The toasts are optional, but traditional.

A taste of Georgia

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