The Georgian meal is not divided into starter/main/dessert: it is the supra, a long banquet where all dishes arrive together and pile up on the table until the tablecloth is hidden. A master of ceremonies, the tamada, leads the table from toast to toast (to the country, to the departed, to the guests). You nibble, share, and drink a lot — a hospitality ritual that Stalin, a Georgian from Gori, reproduced until exhaustion during his late-night dinners at the Kremlin and at his Kuntsevo dacha.

Two hallmarks of Georgian cuisine beloved by Stalin: ground walnuts (which bind sauces and vegetable pâtés) and khmeli suneli, a blend of coriander, blue fenugreek, marigold, and savory that perfumes almost everything. Without the New World: neither tomato nor sweet pepper are essential; they rely on herbs, vinegar, and pomegranate.