what do they eat in IRAQ?

[fifi]

Great post, lurker. Now I am really intrigued. Once we get the bad guys outta there (I mean McDonalds) lets get together and COOK!

PS: I am convinced that all problems are resolved in the kitchen.

[Wolfert]

I have quite a few books on Iraqi cooking, but nothing compares to the self published Delights from the Garden of Eden, by Nawal Nasrallah. You can check it out on amazon.com

[The Little Blue House]

I believe it was "A Short History of Wine" that claimed wine was FIRST made in Mesopotamia, by women preserving grapes...

What seems like a very long time ago, my Dad use to have a favorite bar in Baghdad--a calm place on a roof top somewhere, with plastic lawn furniture and blow up palm trees. It somehow how doesn't seem all that impossible that such a place would have come with wine, or had great cuisine. It's just hard to imagine now, I guess.

-Little Blue

[gus_tatory]

just two small things to add:

--allegedly, the Shiraz grape was from Iran/Iraq originally, so the wine in mesopotamia stories sound possible.

--a lot of Iranian/Iraqi food resembles a lot of other food in the region. example 'kubideh' is ground meat, seasoned, on skewers, grilled. the Greek gyro or souvlaki is not so far from this.

[skchai]

In addition to Claudia Roden, Tess Mallos, and the usual authorities you ought to take a look at this new cookbook:

Delights From The Garden Of Eden, an Iraqi Cookbook

[mighty quinn]

Mashgouf: a whole fish slowly smoked around an open fire. Copious fish and dates.

.

heard a piece on npr back during the "war" about the tradition of preparing this fish. seems that there were many restauarants along the rivers which specialized in smoked fish- the process is a closely guarded secret in families. the fish restaurants fluorished before the war, but are few and far between now. wish i could remember more.

[Suvir Saran]

In addition to Claudia Roden, Tess Mallos, and the usual authorities you ought to take a look at this new cookbook:

Delights From The Garden Of Eden, an Iraqi Cookbook

Thanks skchai! I have bought the book from amazon today. Not very reasonably priced at all, but seems to be worth every dollar. Thanks for giving the link to it.

I was amazed to find a recipe for Burrani, an eggplant dish that I have in my cookbook as well. I am not surprised, for the recipe I have comes from my Persian heritage. I know Madhur Jaffrey and I and others from our Kayastha community all have plenty of recipes that are Persian.

I was also deeply moved by the writing on the webpage for Ms. Nasrallah. Her words reminded me of those I have heard recently from Cara De Silva when she speaks about the book, In Memory's Kitchen, A Legacy From The Women Of Terezin.

Ms. Nasrallah makes a reference to recording these recipes as a way of maintaining the Iraqi humanity and also to bring some semblance of comfort or dignity as they face death, hunger, bombing and continued terror. If not from their own mad men, then, from those that come in guise. In stark contrast to the war time misery of the Iraqi people today, theh cover of the book evokes a richness of tradition and lore. It brought tears to my eyes. I had to buy the book immediately and have asked for next day shipping. Unfortunately for me, the book does not ship immediately, and so, I still have to wait a few days.

Skchai, do you know the book In Memory's Kitchen?

Cara De Silva, a New York based food writer and I should add historian and kind soul, edited the book. She found the recipes stacked away in a close freinds dresser. After collecting much strength, she, with the help of some others, brought to book form recipes collected by women of Terezin. I can only say that not many books or acts performed by people can have such affect on people. Those women, that found strength in times as horrific as they lived, were not mere mortals. They were visionaries, that used food and their rich heritage and the strength in their deepest insides to leave an inheritance for their grandchildren that no amount of money or anything as superficial could ever buy. An amazing book, it is what I read a few pages from before going to bed these last few nights. It humbles me... and gives me new meaning and appreciation for all I have and take for granted.

[Suvir Saran]

I believe it was "A Short History of Wine" that claimed wine was FIRST made in Mesopotamia, by women preserving grapes...

What seems like a very long time ago, my Dad use to have a favorite bar in Baghdad--a calm place on a roof top somewhere, with plastic lawn furniture and blow up palm trees. It somehow how doesn't seem all that impossible that such a place would have come with wine, or had great cuisine. It's just hard to imagine now, I guess.

-Little Blue

Little Blue, tell us more of what you remember hearing from your Dad. Please.

[skchai]

I have to admit I have yet to shell out and purchase the book, but from the website and glowing reviews, it sounds wonderful. At the very least, you are getting a lot of recipes (400+) to make it worthwhile. Also, the recipes are accompanied by generous amounts of cultural history, folklore, and photos. Moreover, the cookbook spans a historical period from Mesopotamian times to the present. It seems to be a lifetime's work by the author, a former university professor at Baghdad and Mosul Universities who left around the time of the first Gulf War. Her cookbook has been written up in the NY Times, Boston Globe, and Newsweek, among other places.

Which makes it all the more shocking, and depressing, that she apparently was unable to find a publisher to accept the manuscript and thus is self-publishing with 1stBooks. I can't believe that a trade publisher or at least a university press wouldn't be interested after all the publicity the book has received (apparently she maintains the copyright). 1stBooks on the other hand seems as reputable as any other self-publishing outfit, and carries titles by some established authors. So perhaps there are advantages to doing this?

Let me know how you like the book, Suvir. Meanwhile, I'll try to convince the wife that it's a worthwhile purchase (I'm on perhaps my 10th imposed moratorium on buying any more cookbooks)!

I have read some reviews of In Memory's Kitchen but have not yet purchased it (see above). It seems like a truly extraordinary document, a testament to the power of everyday culture as a force that can utterly defeat any attempt to conquer the spirit of a people. It seems crude to talk about the recipes themselves, but from what I've heard, they are form an extraordinary documention of a lost cuisine.

Thank you so much for your thought-provoking post, Suvir.

[bergerka]

I thought this might be of interest.

Riverbend, the young woman in Baghdad whose blog is entitled Baghdad Burning, has begun posting recipes on another blog entitled Is Something Burning?

The lentil soup looks delicious.

K

[Suvir Saran]

Let me know how you like the book, Suvir.  Meanwhile, I'll try to convince the wife that it's a worthwhile purchase (I'm on perhaps my 10th imposed moratorium on buying any more cookbooks)!

I have read some reviews of In Memory's Kitchen but have not yet purchased it (see above).  It seems like a truly extraordinary document, a testament to the power of everyday culture as a force that can utterly defeat any attempt to conquer the spirit of a people.  It seems crude to talk about the recipes themselves, but from what I've heard, they are form an extraordinary documention of a lost cuisine.

Thank you so much for your thought-provoking post, Suvir.

skchai,

I still await the book. Shall keep you posted. I am certain I am in for a treat.

[Suvir Saran]

Delights From The Garden Of Eden, arrived into my hands this morning.

I have found it hard to resist....

What a great book... and I owe the discovery to skchai. Thanks.

[anil]

.....

What a great book... and I owe the discovery to skchai. Thanks.

OfCourse that's what Professors are there for ... Maybe next APA I'll get to visit HNL

Edited November 14, 2003 by anil (log)

[helenjp]

Thanks for the info on "Delights From..." I've long wanted another point-of-view to balance my decades of obsession with Claudia Roden's book!

About 20 years ago, I used to be a literacy volunteer. Because I like foreign languages, I was often assigned to the immigrants who somehow ended up in literacy schemes because they wanted to bring their written English up to the same standard as (or better than...) their spoken English, so that they could resume their interrupted professions or re-take professional qualifications.

...but anyway, I worked with an Iranian nurse, who often came to raid my herb garden, and repaid me by inviting me to dinner from time to time. This is not Iraqi food, but it's more similar to Iraqi than to the more mediterranean middle eastern food I was familiar with. Dinner was usually a very meaty lamb stew -- sometimes with hard-boiled eggs- in a thin soup, served with rice or bread (just plain white sliced bread, these people didn't have money or time to recreate every detail of the way they ate in Teheran), flavored with apricots or sometimes sultanas, and always accompanied by a salad.

One thing I gathered from her and from Iraqi students when I first came to Japan, was that there was a huge culinary gap between the ordinary people, especially outside the main cities, and the educated urban middle classes, who spoke French and ate French, but also ate a lot of noodles.

Interested to hear more on this topic...

[skchai]

Thanks for the kind comments, Anil and Suvir. Sorry for the delay in responding, I was out of town!

Please do come an visit Honolulu by all means - look forward to showing you around. By the way, Anil, what's APA?

Thanks,

Sun-Ki

[chefzadi]

There are several decent Persian cookbooks on the market.  Check 'em out.

There's also a chapter on Persian Jewish food in Copeland Marks' "Sephardic Cooking."

Oh, woops. Duh.

I do, however, have a bunch of Iraqi Jewish recipes from some Iraqi Jewish friends of mine, if anybody is interested.

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How are Iraqi Jewish recipes different from Muslim Iraqi recipes? It's halal to do meat and dairy combos, as well as egg and meat combo. Aside from that...

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