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Khash is a bone broth made from cow or sheep feet and tripe, simmered for eight to twelve hours until the collagen dissolves into a thick, gelatinous soup. The name comes from the Armenian verb meaning to boil, and the Georgian form khashi derives from the same root, reflecting a shared cooking tradition across two neighboring cultures and languages. It is eaten in the morning, traditionally between four and seven a.m., with raw garlic crushed directly into the bowl, dried lavash crumbled on top, and vodka or chacha alongside. The people who eat it have usually been awake all night waiting for it.

Khash is documented in Armenian and Georgian sources from the medieval period, and the practice of eating it at dawn has a specific historical logic: the dish required the night's labor of cooking, and slaughterhouse workers and butchers who processed cattle at night received the feet and offal as a form of payment. The meal was, originally, poor food. By the twelfth century, the Armenian poet Hovhannes Erznkaci described khash in verse, and Georgian chronicles mention parallel dishes under comparable names. The convergence of the word across the South Caucasus suggests a shared cooking tradition predating the current linguistic borders.

The preparation of khash is ritualized. The feet must be cleaned, singed, and soaked overnight before cooking. The broth is started well before midnight and never rushed: low heat, no lid, foam skimmed periodically. No salt is added during cooking because the bones provide enough mineral flavor. At the table, each person seasons their own bowl with raw garlic, which they crush themselves, and dried lavash; the combination of hot fat-rich broth, sharp garlic, and starchy bread produces a warmth that radiates from the inside.

Across the South Caucasus, khash is now a social ritual as much as a meal. In Armenia, khash breakfasts involve large gatherings, multiple rounds of vodka, and toasts that can last until noon. In Georgia, chacha substitutes for vodka, but the structure is the same. The dish has remained poor food in terms of ingredients, but the ceremony around it is anything but modest. Food writers in Yerevan and Tbilisi have debated for decades whether khash is Armenian or Georgian, a question that mistakes competition for kinship.