When the Rain Came for Tbilisi, the Mtsvadi Still Burned
Flooding in the city of my birth is a reminder that Georgian cuisine was always built for endurance — not abundance.
Yelena Mirova
CIS
Geopolitical and economic analysis from Russia, Central Asia, and the Caucasus.
The Kitchen That Remembered: 3,200 Years of Fire at Tava Tepe
A ceremonial kitchen rebuilt across centuries in Azerbaijan asks us what we already knew: that cooking was never just feeding.
Yelena Mirova
The Road Reopens, and So Does the Table
Azerbaijan's restored land border and rail link with Georgia is more than logistics — it's a reunion of two kitchens that were never meant to be apart.
Yelena Mirova
The Taste of Karabakh: What a Peace Deal Means for a Cuisine in Exile
When Pashinyan said Karabakh 'was not ours,' he cracked open a wound that every Armenian kitchen has been quietly nursing for decades.
Yelena Mirova
The Khachapuri Wars: Why Georgia's Cheese Boats Are Splitting a Nation
As tourism floods Tbilisi with international diners, traditional cooks are clashing with fusion chefs over what makes the iconic dish authentic—and who gets to decide.
Yelena Mirova