Israel
Amba
עמבה
Pickled green mango sauce with fenugreek, turmeric and mustard, brought from Iraq and now poured into sabich and shawarma.
western-asia
Iraq
Explore 50 foods connected to Iraq, from everyday staples to rare local specialties.
50 foods12 leading categories5 Essentials guides
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The local shortlist
Baghdad Essentials
5 editor-selected foods for understanding the place through what people eat.
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Traditional foods from Iraq.
50 foods in this view. Filter by category, type, rarity, or search every recorded name.
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Lebanon
Arak
عرق
A clear grape spirit twice or three times distilled with aniseed, diluted with water and ice so it turns milky white.
Lebanon
Baklava
بقلاوة
Layers of paper-thin phyllo brushed with butter and filled with chopped walnuts or pistachios, baked crisp then drenched in lemon- or rose-scented sugar syrup. One square, cut diamond-small, is the shared Ottoman dessert of the whole eastern Mediterranean.
Iraq
Barhi Dates
تمر برحي
Round yellow dates eaten crisp at the khalal stage, tasting of coconut and apple before they ripen to soft brown.
Iraq
Daheen
دهين
Date syrup beaten with sesame paste and sometimes flour into a dense, dark sweet eaten with bread at breakfast.
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Dolma
دلمه
Vegetables such as peppers, eggplants, tomatoes, or zucchini hollowed out and stuffed with a mixture of rice, pine nuts, currants, and sometimes ground meat. The olive-oil vegetarian version (zeytinyağlı dolma) is served cold and is a staple of the Turkish meze table.
Basra, Iraq
Dried Lime
نومي بصرة
Limes boiled in brine and sun-dried until they turn brown and hollow, then pierced and dropped whole into stews.
Basra, Iraq
Fasolia
فاصولياء يابسة
White beans stewed slowly with lamb, tomato and dried lime, poured over long-grain rice.
Iraq
Geymar
قيمر
Water-buffalo milk simmered and left overnight so a thick, clotted layer forms, lifted off in slabs and eaten with honey or syrup.
United Arab Emirates
Hummus
حمص
Chickpeas boiled soft and beaten with tahini, lemon and garlic into a smooth paste, swirled with olive oil — the shared Levantine staple claimed by every coast of the eastern Mediterranean, eaten with pita at any hour.
Iraq
Iraqi Baharat
بهارات عراقية
Household spice blend of black pepper, cinnamon, cardamom, clove, coriander, cumin and rose petal ground together.
Iraq
Iraqi Sherbet
شربت
Chilled syrup of fruit, flower petal or nuts diluted with iced water, served in tall glasses through the summer.
Iraq
Iraqi Tea
چاي عراقي
Black tea brewed twice — once boiled, then steeped over a second pot of boiling water — poured into small waisted glasses over heaped sugar.
Iraq
Jajik
جاجيك
Thick yoghurt beaten with cucumber, garlic, dried mint and salt, served cold as a side to grilled meat and rice.
Baghdad, Iraq
Kahi
كاهي
Sheets of thin dough layered with clarified butter, baked until crisp, doused in syrup and topped with thick buffalo cream.
Mosul, Iraq
Kleicha
كليجة
Pastry rings or crescents filled with date paste or walnut and cardamom, baked pale and stamped with a pattern.
Nablus, Palestine
Knafeh
كنافة
Sweet cheese pastry with vermicelli-like kataifi dough, soaked in sugar syrup, often topped with pistachios, crispy shredded dough with melted cheese center and proper syrup soaking, a beloved Arab dessert.
Mosul, Iraq
Kubbat Halab
كبة حلب
Rice-flour shell coloured with turmeric, stuffed with minced meat, almond and raisin, and deep-fried into a golden torpedo.
Najaf, Iraq
Kubbat Hamudh Shalgham
كبة حامض شلغم
Rice-dough dumplings filled with minced lamb, simmered in a sour turnip and beetroot broth with pomegranate molasses.
Mosul, Iraq
Kubbat Mosul
كبة الموصل
A wide, flat disc of bulgur and rice dough enclosing spiced minced lamb, boiled or fried and then cut into wedges.
Iraq
Lablabi
لبلبي
Chickpeas boiled soft and served hot in their broth with cumin, salt and lemon, ladled into small bowls on winter streets.
Baghdad, Iraq
Luzina
لوزينة
Fruit and nut paste — usually apricot or date with almond — cooked with starch and sugar and cut into soft, chewy squares.
Iraq
Mann Al-Sama
من السماء
Nougat of egg white, sugar and pistachio, traditionally made with the sweet exudate of tamarisk trees, cut into blocks and dusted with starch.
Jordan
Maqluba
مقلوبة
Rice layered with fried aubergine, cauliflower and lamb or chicken in a pot, cooked, then upended onto a tray so the layers show.
Iraq
Margat Bamia
مرقة بامية
Okra stewed with lamb in a tomato and dried-lime broth until the pods soften and the sauce thickens.
Baghdad, Iraq
Masgouf
مسكوف
Carp split down the back, opened flat, brushed with tamarind, turmeric and olive oil and stood upright around an open wood fire to roast for hours.
Lebanon
Mujaddara
مجدرة
Lentils and rice or bulgur cooked together and buried under deeply caramelised onions fried almost to black.
Lebanon
Mutabbal
متبل
Aubergine charred whole over a flame, peeled and mashed with tahini, lemon and garlic into a pale smoky purée.
Basra, Iraq
Mutabbaq Samak
مطبق سمك
Fried fish laid over rice cooked in fish stock with onion, raisin and spice, then turned out so the fish sits on top.
Iraq
Pacha
باچة
Sheep's head, trotters and stomach stuffed with rice and boiled overnight, served in its own broth with bread.
Najaf, Iraq
Pomegranate Soup
شوربة رمان
Yellow split peas and minced meat simmered in pomegranate juice with herbs and rice into a sour, ruby-coloured soup.
Lebanon
Qatayef
قطايف
Small pancakes cooked on one side only, folded around walnut or clotted cream, then fried and soaked in syrup or served fresh.
Najaf, Iraq
Qeema Najafi
قيمة نجفية
Minced lamb cooked down with chickpeas and tomato into a thick, dark stew, cooked in huge quantities for Ashura in Najaf.
United Arab Emirates
Quzi
قوزي
Lamb with rice and nuts, similar to Khuzi but with different spice profile and preparation method, tender roasted lamb with aromatic rice and crunchy nut topping, a celebratory dish.
Iraq
Rashi
راشي
Sesame seeds hulled, roasted and stone-ground into a pale, loose paste, eaten sweet with date syrup rather than in savoury dips.
Iraq
Ruqaq Bread
رقاق
Very thin dough spread over a convex metal dome and cooked in seconds into a large, brittle sheet.