The traditional Megrelian and Abkhazian receipe of spicy sauce, ajika, has received the status of "Intangible Cultural Heritage of Georgia".
The National Agency for Cultural Heritage Preservation granted the sauce the status in the framework of the project Georgian Taste Heritage, the website agenda.ge reported.
Ajika originates in the Western parts of Georgia, in the Samegrelo and Abkhazia regions.
The main ingredients are red pepper, garlic and dried spices. There are numerous variations of the sauce spread all over Georgia.
Legend has it that ajika dates back to the 15th century when the land owners began adding pepper to salt given to livestock, thinking that adding pepper would keep the shepherds from taking the salt from them. However, the shepherds mixed the salt and pepper with garlic and mountain herbs and thus, ajika was created.
Project organizers report that they have collected 140 recipes of well-known and unknown Georgian meals. All of them will be granted the status of of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Georgia step by step, agenda.ge says
Georgia is at the moment going through a nasty presidential election campaign, with activists of different camps trading insults against each other. But on some things Georgians are united. The love of Ajika is nationwide.
source: commonspace.eu with agenda.ge
