Iraq

Growing up Adventist, I have traveled to Iraq while staying at home many, many times! After all, Abraham was from Ur, Jonah went to Nineveh, and Daniel was taken to Babylon, all places that one can find in Iraq today. I’ve seen pictures, cut out felts, and even sung songs that referred to these ancient travelers to Iraq. I’ve also met kind Iraqi people, both through experiencing the restaurants and festivals throughout California and also through Allan’s family’s Middle Eastern community here in Southern California. Even though Iraq has struggled through recent wars, there is much in Iraq to enjoy and the people I’ve met are generous and have a justified pride in their deep heritage.

Sumeria

Let’s start with Sumeria, one of the first civilizations, not just in the middle east, but in the world. This video introduces the Sumerians, their cities and rulers, the Gilgamesh Epic, and cuneiform. Yes, 2.5 hours is long, but Paul M. M. Cooper does a good job of showing both images of Iraq today and how it would have looked many years ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2lJUOv0hLA.

Here are two online options for experiencing the Gilgamesh Epic, not only one of the earliest surviving works of literature, but a great story with connections you might recognize. The text is on Project Gutenberg https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/18897 and the audio on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPYf8AwNvKg

Allan and I used to have videos of The Bible Collection from Turner Network Television and we watched each episode several times to get a new perspective on familiar characters. The Abraham movie starts in Haran, after Abram had left Ur, and gives a portrait of this well know Iraqi that is worth discussing. Part 1 of 2 is at this link with part 2 of 2 available on the page below it: https://vimeo.com/234077521

Assyria

Going north from Ur to Assyria, we find an introduction to Assyrian art here: https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ancient-art-civilizations/ancient-near-east1/assyrian/a/assyrian-art-an-introduction. As shown in these videos and articles, the capital city of Assyria was Nineveh, near what is now the Iraqi city Mosul (more about Mosul below). Nineveh was constructed through amazing feats of engineering described through the research of Stephanie Dailey in Secrets of the Dead: The Lost Gardens of Babylon. I know it says Babylon, but there is a Nineveh connection. You can find it on Amazon Prime.

A well-known story of Ninevah is that of Jonah. I don’t know how many times I watched Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie with my children. It’s different from the dramatic Abraham movie recommended above, illustrating the various ways these ancient stories are presented: https://tubitv.com/movies/586019/jonah-a-veggietales-movie

Thinking of Assyria as an ancient empire, I was surprised to learn that there are still people who identify as Assyrian when I found the Assyrian Food Festival in San Jose in August, 2019. This is a small and fun event with music, food, vendors, and bounce houses. It is put on by one of a number of Assyrian Christian churches in California that have services in Aramaic. I tried the vegetarian options being served: lentil soup with its own twist (I think there was cheese in it - it was good), rice with dill & fava beans (also good), and baklava with cream filling (that was new for me). From this event, I learned about several Assyrian musicians who are based in California. I don’t usually link to Wikipedia articles, but someone did a really good job of putting Assyrian music samples in this one: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assyrian_folk/pop_music

Babylon

Babylon is probably the most famous of the ancient Iraqi cities. This series of videos and articles includes information on Hammurabi, Nebuchadnezzar, Babylonian art and buildings, and things we still use from what the Babylonians invented: https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ancient-art-civilizations/ancient-near-east1/babylonian/a/babylonia-an-introduction. Instead of recommending one of the several Daniel movies, I am going to link you to an excellent translation of the original story: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Daniel%201&version=NRSV

Iraq in Southern California

The experience of eating in Iraqi restaurants differed for me based on who went with me. I was running errands in Orange County, so I ate by myself at Al Tannour Mediterranean Cuisine in Anaheim. I had the Masgouf, apparently the national dish of Iraq, which is a whole fish, nicely cooked, and served with salad, pickles, pickled turnips, and bread. The bread was a huge disk, at least 18 inches, and about half-way between naan and pita bread.

When Vonnett and I ate at Al Azayem Restaurant in El Cajon, we tried a variety of meat options – the lamb shank with okra stew, chicken tikka, beef kabob, and chicken kabob. We added on the eggplant salad, which had red onions and yellow and green peppers. This was served with a creamy mushroom and vegetable soup to start, and rice, tomatoes, pickles, cucumbers, onions, and bread came with the meal. Our bread was a thick diamond shaped pita and we saw the people at the next table eating their Masgouf with a thinner, larger pita.

When Sheryll, Cathy, Cathy’s daughter, and I ate at Akkad Mediterranean & Iraqi Grill in Glendale, we went mostly vegetarian with the moutabbel (eggplant, lemon, garlic, and sesame paste), muhammara (red pepper, crushed walnuts, and pomegranate sauce), lebne (yogurt cream, mint, and olive oil), falafel (deep fried balls made from ground chickpeas), hummus (garbanzo beans blended with lemon, garlic, and sesame paste), and cheese borek (egg rolls filled with cheese). Again, they had the huge bread, similar to naan. Lebne, falafel, and hummus are all common foods in our family culture, and it was fun to add some new things I haven’t tried before like the moutabbel and muhammara.

One of Allan’s colleagues sent him home last year with some Iraqi date cookies with a layer of cookie crust and a layer of date, rolled and sliced, not like a pinwheel, but with crust on top and bottom with date peeking out the sides. I believe I found a similar recipe online: https://www.middleeasteye.net/discover/how-make-sweet-cookies-kleicha-recipe-iraq. Those and some of the additional recipes here would give you an excellent Iraqi meal: https://www.jumakitchen.com/recipes/

Iraq Today

To bring myself up to date on Iraq, I listened to The Last Girl: My Story of Captivity, and My Fight against the Islamic State by Nadia Murad. Murad won the Nobel Peace Prize for this work and I found her story both inspiring and informational as I learned about the Yazidi people and religious diversity in northern Iraq. Her captivity was in Mosul (located near ancient Nineveh). I also watched the movie Mosul which is available both on Netflix and Amazon Prime.

Travel in that area is possible. The first demonstration of this is by Anthony Bourdain in No Reservations: Kurdistan. I saw Vonnett’s stew in this video and it always makes me happy to see that what I’m studying shows up in more than one place: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6tvvqa. The second demonstration is when Rick Steves talks with a visitor to the same area who had a great experience even without the security forces that Anthony Bourdain took with him. The Iraq report is the first segment of this radio show which starts at the 1:30 mark and ends at 13:18: https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/audio/radio/programs/program-533

More places to visit in Iraq can be seen here: https://www.thecrazytourist.com/15-best-places-visit-iraq/#more-24719. If you plan to travel to Iraq, check in with your local travel advisor. Shout out to my favorite travel advisor, Kaitlin Darnell at Laura's Travel in Redlands. May the travel industry survive and thrive. May we all survive, thrive, recognize our mutual humanity, learn to deal with our conflicts, and allow peace and health to flourish in Iraq and throughout the world.

Photo Credit: Zrng N Gharib https://unsplash.com/photos/Cmbx4r3peQE