“I was born in Zugdidi, I had a very busy and interesting childhood. Besides school, I attended   drawing, dancing and music classes. I did not have a sibling, so I either studied or read books at home. I especially loved going to the sea in the summer in Abkhazia, or touring with the ensemble, or at festivals. We had a remarkably good neighborhood, we ran with the kids, as if in our own home, we knew what food was being cooked in each family.

Now that I look back, everyone cooked well. Weddings were especially interesting, all the neighbors had their own “niche” and business :) My mother, for example, used to baked choux buns and cake “Napoleon”, and prepared dishes with hazelnut dressing. There was a different kind of love, friendly and supportive relationships and values.

I graduated from TSU Faculty of Philology, Russian Language and Literature, although I only used my profession for speaking and writing emails. I had quite interesting job, I enjoyed working as a volunteer as well. I have always loved culinary and delicious dishes, my grandmother cooked   marvelously and so did my mother. We had guest every day, so it was a fuss at home all the time. I still cook beans according to my grandmother’s recipe and “Satsivi” according to my mother’s recipe.

A few years ago my friend made Facebook page “What to eat today” and that’s when I started   activity and fussing. I was cooking, baking, and studying something, watching videos and movies about cooking every day. I really don’t like writing recipes and when I’m asked the recipe, I never know the exact grammage. I never cook the same way, I always do it in my own way and I enjoy this process.

The pandemic also coincided with my gastronomic experiments. All this has led me to a small restaurant, where I work as an assistant chef. I really like this job, it is interesting and varied. Here is a totally different dynamics and agility, I learn a lot from my chef and thank him for that :) In the future I am thinking of living outside the city, close to Tbilisi and starting my own small business, we’ll see :)

Georgian cuisine is my favorite, I also love Italian, French cuisine and that is why today I prepared for you the easiest Italian dish. I only used Nadughi and Suluguni instead of ricotta and mozzarella, you should definitely try it yourself. You may also use zucchini instead of eggplant. Enjoy! ” - Lali Jabua