Food Practices
Communal practices related to food are an important part of the cultural heritage in Mosul. The city’s location in North Iraq and its centrality for regional trade has resulted in a diverse food culture that draws from other parts of the Middle East as well as local agriculture. Some Mosul dishes will be familiar to other regional food cultures but in Mosul carry a different name or use an alternative key ingredient based on local food production. Food practices encompass the cycle of food production and consumption, from the cultivation of fruits and vegetables, the raising of livestock, the preparation of food for long-term storage, and the making of specific recipes and customs during social occasions. In Mosul, food practices are also temporal and spatial; they emerge from the climatic seasons and benefit from neighbourly cooperation
Kibbeh
Kibbeh is a common dish in Mosul and various versions are found across the Middle East. Its origin is traced back to the Assyrians. In Mosul, a dough of meat and bulgur is filled with a mixture of meat, onions, and spices to form balls that that are then boiled. Similarly, yebragh is a version of the dolma, which has different names throughout the Middle East and Western Asia. A filling of rice, meat and garlic are stuffed in vegetables or wrapped in chard or onion leaves before being boiled
Burma
Burma is a dish that was historically cooked overnight using the charcoal kiln of the neighbourhood public bath after its fire was extinguished for the evening. Residents of a neighbourhood would bring a large pot filled with meat, dry cowpeas, and wheat to the kiln where it would cook until the following morning and be eaten for breakfast. Today, this practice of preparing burma has moved to the home where it is cooked using modern pots and gas stoves
Dolama
Dolma is a traditional meal of Mosul that is of Turkish origin. Its ingredients include rice. It includes making a mixture of rice, mince and garlic, which is then stuffed with eggplant, tomato , pumpkin, grape or chard leaves and onion leaves. These are all boiled in a pot and served after being cooked in a large flat plate
clitcha
This is a special kind of cookie made for special occasions and festivals. It is made from flour dough that is formed in different shapes and then stuffed with dates, walnuts, and sugar and then baked in ovens.