Home > Culture > Cuisine > Introduction

Cuisine of Iraq

by Ayat Aldoori

May 15, 2009 [Editing Dhia Younis]

Around midday the aroma of steaming rice and simmering stew drifts through the households of Iraq. It sneaks its way into noses and signals the onset of lunch, the main meal of the day. Khubuz al tannour, flatbread baked in a clay oven over hot coals of brushwood, completes this delicious meal.

This traditional Iraqi meal called timan wa marag consists of meat and veggies simmered in tomato sauce and is usually served over rice with bread. It is cooked practically everyday because it is economical and has sustained Iraqis for more than five thousand years (Nasrallah  207). Rice is a very important food to Iraqis, “the perfect rice is the criteria of a good cook in Iraq, simply because it is prepared everyday, and if the cook doesn’t know how to prepare this daily staple properly then what does she know?” (235). To make rice successfully, it requires the right amount of liquid which is determined by the choice of the rice itself (236).

The balanced dietary trends among Iraqis of grains, veggies, moderate meat intake and a variety of spices can be traced back to the ancient Mesopotamians who lived between the Tigris and Euphrates. They not only played a role in the cuisine of Iraqis, but also played a significant role in shaping the near east for three thousand years before Christianity (Nasrallah 2).

The history of Iraqi food is far-reaching. The first documented cookbook in human history was written in Akkadian on clay tablets 3700 years ago (Nasrallah 3). These tablets were found in the ruins left by these ancient peoples (Salloum). The ancient Mesopotamians had more than 300 kinds of bread classified as “tiny, black and white, long and short, fresh and dry, excellent and extraordinary” (51). Bread was very important to the Mesopotamians, as it is even mentioned in the epic tale of Gilgamesh, “Eat bread Enkido, the glory of life.” What is interesting is that khubuz al tannour Iraqis still eat today has undergone little change since the time of the ancient Mesopotamians, who used to bake bread in clay ovens called tanuru where the Arabic word tannour is derived from (59).

Modern day Iraqi cuisine has been heavily influenced by neighboring countries such as Turkey, Iran, and Syria (Salloum). Turkish methods of stuffing foods has influenced Iraqi cuisine, and Iranians contributed methods of mixing dried fruit with stews and marags (Food). Some examples of Iraqi foods influenced by other cultures is burek which is fried pastry stuffed with meat, and dolma which are veggies stuffed with a rice and meat mixture.

Special desserts are made during religious celebrations. Date cookies called kleicha are a common treat which are made in bulk as Eid al-Fitr or Eid al-Adha draw nearer, and handed out to visiting neighbors, family, and friends. Ancient Mesopotamian bakers used to make ‘qullupu’ cookies which were filled with raisins or dates and baked in tannours (Nasrallah 525). It is believed that modern-day kleicha have shared history with these ancient ‘qullupu’ cookies (527).

Hospitality is highly valued in Iraqi culture. It is common that guests will be fed before the hosts, even if the hosts are low on food. Also, if a neighbor gives a family a dish, it is not common to return the dish empty, but they usually fill it with something more delicious.