Dining with YGL’s in Tbilisi: take a seat and understand Georgia
Take tradition and diverse culture, mix it with the positive attitudes of the people — that’s not only the recipe for a great dinner party, but also for Georgia recent development. After receiving an invitation to the WEF’s Young Global Leaders & Global Shapers discover Georgia tour, I was surprised to learn of the venue in which one of the official feasts was to be held: the Bank of Georgia. Then I realized that, for Georgians, guests are the biggest treasure of all — “a gift from God”, as they say. Once you experience this heavenly hospitality firsthand, everything begins to make sense.
After entering the representative hall of the bank we have heard a rumour that this place would host an official dinner for the first time in history. However, later we were informed that it’s only partially true — it used to be a daily lunch spot just a quarter century ago. Then bankers couldn’t afford to eat out and cooked simple food for themselves on the floor. Straight after lunch break, in this hall, you could get overwhelmed with the scents of fresh herbs. Capitalism these days was fuelled with boiled beans.
This same place is also monument of rapid change the country is currently experiencing. Well-educated bankers in bespoke suits will inform you that Georgia is among the world’s top 10 economies according to the World Bank Group’s annual Doing Business report. It has moved up to 6th place in the global rankings and is currently the highest ranked economy in the Europe and Central Asia region¹. With 3.7 mln citizens, its 5-year compound annual growth reaches 3.7 %.
There is, however, still a lot to be done. Agriculture and related industries employ over half of the workforce² and GDP is relatively humble. This does not change the fact that, over the past 15 years, Georgians were able to cut corruption to the point where the country is now the least-corrupt in the entire Black Sea region³. There is also a truly open market and well-developed infrastructure. How easy is it to start a business in Georgia? Thanks to a „one-stop shop” approach to business incorporation, entrepreneurs can do so quickly and efficiently, taking care of all the necessary formalities in one place⁴ — something many more developed countries can only wish for.
For Georgians tradition is every bit as important as progress. After being served an aperitif, we could spot an old safety vault which was put to use in an extremely innovative way: 6" doors separated us from the essence of 8000 years of winemaking heritage — bottles of white Mtsvane and red Saperavi. Georgia is one of the oldest winemaking regions in the world and our hosts could lecture us at length on the art of using qvevri, or clay jars. Virtually every Georgian produces home-made wine, an important part of each citizen’s national identity. Today, the products of Georgia’s winemakers, nearly 80 million bottles each year, are shipped to over 50 countries worldwide, annually⁵.
Drinks preceded a variety of appetizers and main courses. Supra, once again, lived up to its reputation. It started with traditional bread (tonis puri), salads, fried eggplant and walnut sauce, the famous adjarian khachapuri and iconic khinkali. Then came delicious meats and fish, grilled lamb ribs and slowly baked chicken. Georgian cuisine is complex, full of flavour that both vegetarians and meat lovers would consider stunning and delicious.
An emotional highlight of the dinner itself was being introduced to the sacred tradition of Georgian Polyphonic Singing, which in fact appears on UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity list.
It’s not a proper Georgian dinner without a series of toasts — one of the best local „barometers” of local sentiment. On this night they clearly point in one direction — toward “Europe” and in favor of stronger transatlantic ties. According to the National Democratic Institute (NDI), an American think tank, 83 percent of Georgians favor their country joining the EU, a feeling that was formally expressed in 2013, when Georgia signing an Association Agreement with the European Union. Moreover, 78 percent of Georgians favour their country joining NATO⁶, which they perceive as a guarantee of safety and territorial integrity. The most common toast? It’s to peace.
Towards the end of the dinner, the staff filled the smallest of the glasses on our tables with a crystal-yellow liquid which turned out to be chacha. This unique local brandy varies in alcohol content, but the strongest varieties can be as much as 130 proof. When Anthony Bourdain visited Georgia one of the things that surprised him most was the almost ritualistic way in which Georgians when about curing a chacha hangover. This is no doubt linked to the tremendous symbolic value that this beverage has in the country’s culture. It’s consumed on only one occasion — when celebrating life.
Also worth noting is the countries exceptional nightlife. Following dinner I joined a few of the other guests on a visit to Drama Bar and Fabrika. We ended up in the basement of Dinamo Arena, Georgia’s national football stadium, in Tbilisi’s biggest techno club Bassiani, named one of the Top 20 Nightclubs in the World⁷.
Georgians are optimists and, especially in the case of our hosts, not afraid of showing it. I am grateful to Georgian WEF Young Global Leaders’s who — in daily life — are transforming the landscape of their country. They do not only on a business, NGO and government level, but also in meeting like the one that I had the privilege of attending. These discussion were every bit as insightful as they were inspirational and left me with not only admiration for the nation’s spirit but also a sense of optimism for its future. Proud of their heritage and full of life. That’s how I see Georgians. More importantly, that’s how Georgians see their country.
Kornel Koronowski
Global Shapers Warsaw Hub
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www.globalshapers.pl
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¹ https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2018/10/31/doing-business-georgia-has-moved-up-to-6th-place-in-the-global-rankings
² https://www.heritage.org/index/country/georgia
³ https://www.transparency.org/files/content/pages/CPI_2018_Executive_Summary_EN.pdf
⁴ https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2018/10/31/doing-business-georgia-has-moved-up-to-6th-place-in-the-global-rankings
⁵ https://www.thedrinksbusiness.com/2018/01/georgian-wine-exports-hit-30-year-high/
⁶ http://agenda.ge/en/news/2019/261
⁷ https://www.hostelworld.com/blog/best-nightclubs-in-the-world/
