Schwiliko prepares Badrijani

Back in Georgia, Rusudan Gorgiladze, a professional psychologist, was Chief Advisor to President Eduard Shevardnadze and Deputy Minister of Education. After the Rose Revolution, she moved to Berlin in 2004 with her husband, a student of German culture. Her daughter, Inga Akhvlediani, who had been born in Tibilisi, but studied in the USA and in Istanbul, followed her parents to Berlin.

In 2015, Rusudan Gorgiladze and her daughter, Inga Akhvlediani, opened Schwiliko. It is one of three Georgian restaurants in Berlin, but the only in the Kreuzberg district. And the only one with original décor from a 19th-century Georgian living room. Even the table cloths are sewn out of Georgian table cloths by Inga Akhvlediani herself.

"What we're doing right now is very important. People in Germany do not know Georgia. And the food, the national cuisine, is one of the best ways to express a cultural identity." - Rusudan Gorgiladze "The eating ceremony is very special in Georgia.... We make a real feast and sit at the table for three, four hours and drink, make toasts, eat,... it is not just about eating.” - Inga Akhvlediani

At first, the meals at Schwiliko were cooked by Georgian cooks. But they didn't do so to the liking of the mother-and-daughter team. So they got behind the stove themselves. A bit later, they took on new chefs and showed them how old family recipes were prepared. At home in Georgia, Rusudan Gorgiladze never cooked her own meals. Yet in Berlin, she's even written a book about Georgian cuisine.

Georgian cuisine is very diverse. That's got a bit to do with the country's mild climate, which allows for the cultivation of a variety of vegetables and herbs. Herbs, by the way, are honored as a food on their own in Georgian cooking. But the queen of the cuisine has to be walnuts. For Badrijani, walnuts are ground to a paste to accompany fried eggplant strips.