TBILISI, Georgia — In the ancient land of khachapuri cheese bread and famous qvevri wine fermented in earthenware vessels, Danny Licht now offers a rival ethnic delicacy: falafel. Three years ago, the Swiss-Israeli entrepreneur moved here from Jerusalem with his Russian-born wife, Rita. In January, they opened Ashkara Falafel in the heart of Tbilisi’s tourist district.
“We wanted to offer something fresh, tasty and inexpensive — not a restaurant but real street food,” said Licht, who charges 19 lari (about $7) for a complete falafel meal with all the fixings. Meanwhile, Rita, who has a doctorate in molecular genetics from the in Rehovot, runs a contemporary art gallery housed in the same building as their residence. “We don’t have any family ties here, but we love the culture and we have a passion for art,” she said.
“Our dream was to open a gallery, and this is one of the places we could make it happen.” Danny and Rita Licht are among 200 or so Israelis for whom Georgia — a about three hours’ flying time from Tel Aviv — is a new promised land. Frustrated with Israel’s high prices, toxic politics and worsening security situation, they’ve decided to relocate permanently to this mountainous, landlocked country in the Caucasus.
They may have left behind one divided country for another. For the last two months, Georgia has experienced massive anti-government protests against a new law, modeled after one in Russia, that requires any organization recei.