ETHNOLINGUISTIC ISSUES OF GEORGIAN CULTURE: (A Culinary Journey in Ethnographic Georgia)

Abstract

The era of universal computerization and globalization has intensified issues of ethnocultural identification, bringing to the forefront a range of interdisciplinary research concerns, including historical ethnography, the dynamics of material and spiritual culture, national mentality, the linguistic and cultural worldview, and the cultural memory of generations.

The latest wave of technological progress and advances in scientific thought encourage reflection on the rapid passage of time and on changes that have transformed not only the appearance of cities but also the lifestyle, worldview, and value system of modern humanity. The younger generation already lives in a profoundly altered reality, in which the preservation of ancestral cultural heritage has become an urgent task. Understanding past cultural experience not only influences the contemporary life of a given ethnic group but also largely determines its future.

Georgia is a small country with an ancient culture and a tragic history, a unique alphabet, and a rich natural environment. Despite their shared indigenous Georgian roots, the country’s historical and ethnographic regions (Guria, Samegrelo, Kakheti, Kartli, Abkhazia, Racha, Svaneti, Mtskheta–Mtianeti, Tbilisi, Samtskhe–Javakheti, Imereti, Lechkhumi, and Adjara) are characterized by local specificities manifested in all spheres of life, including national traditions, religious rituals, folk crafts, architecture, agriculture, and culinary art.

The article examines Georgian culinary traditions (Culinary Journey to Ethnographic Georgia, 2025) as an important component of the nation’s cultural heritage, explores the ethnographic characteristics of Georgia’s historical regions, and analyzes the reflection of local realities in the linguistic picture of the world. One of the key objectives of the study is to identify effective strategies for the intralingual and interlingual translation of these realities, which is essential for the popularization of Georgian culture.

Modern technologies make it possible to preserve the cultural heritage of an ethnic group and the local features of individual historical regions through coherent sequences of memorable visual images. However, ethnographic research is incomplete without linguistic analysis and an examination of translation strategies capable of adequately conveying the specificity of local realities, since it is the national language—with its rich literary norms and territorial dialects-that encapsulates the national mentality and cultural uniqueness of a given ethnos.