country Essentials · 11 foods
Iraq Essentials
A considered first route through Iraq: the foods that carry its everyday habits, celebrations, ingredients, and memory.
Explore all Iraq foods →THE
ESSENTIALS
The complete shortlist
11 foods to know.
Each selection includes the reason it belongs here—so this is a guide, not just a pile of names.
Baghdad, Iraq
Masgouf
مسكوف
Carp split flat and stood around an open wood fire on the Tigris bank for hours before it meets embers.
United Arab Emirates
Quzi
قوزي
Lamb cooked until it collapses, laid over spiced rice with almonds, raisins and fried vermicelli.
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Dolma
دلمه
Every vegetable in the market stuffed and cooked in one pot, soured with pomegranate and tamarind.
Iraq
Tepsi Baytinijan
تبسي باذنجان
Aubergine, potato and meatballs layered in a wide tray and baked dark in tomato broth.
Baghdad, Iraq
Kahi
كاهي
Buttery pastry sheets soaked in syrup under a slab of clotted buffalo cream — breakfast with sweet tea.
Mosul, Iraq
Kleicha
كليجة
Date-filled pastry rings stamped by hand and baked in tins for Eid across every household.
Iraq
Pacha
باچة
Sheep's head and stuffed stomach boiled overnight and eaten at dawn on a Friday.
Najaf, Iraq
Kubbat Hamudh Shalgham
كبة حامض شلغم
Rice dumplings in a beetroot-pink turnip broth soured hard with pomegranate molasses.
Iraq
Tannour Bread
خبز تنور
Dough slapped on the clay oven wall and peeled off blistered a minute later.
Basra, Iraq
Dried Lime
نومي بصرة
Limes boiled and sun-dried to brown hollow shells, dropped whole into stews for their bitterness.
Iraq
Iraqi Tea
چاي عراقي
Tea brewed twice and served over heaped sugar in a small waisted istikan glass.