FOOD
Ingredients that are in the food above include: prunes, apples, apricots, beef, sugar, cinnamon, tomato sauce, rice, lentils, potatoes, flour, garlic, lemon juice, vegetable oil, butter onions, celery, carrots, chicken, pita bread, cumin, raisins, pine nuts, whipped cream, jelly, soy sauce, lamb, pepper, mushroom, ginger, turmeric, parsley, grapefruit, and oranges. These are common meals found in Iraq.
Kebabs are a very popular meal in Iraq and pretty simple to eat. When you hear the word "kebab" in America, you might think of skewers with chunks of chicken or beef and vegetables, marinated and grilled on coals or gas. But say "kebab" in the Middle East, and it means a lot of things — chunks of lamb or liver on skewers, or the more popular version of grilled ground meat logs found in Turkey, Iran and much of the Arab world. The word is Arabic in origin and comes from the word keba, which means "to turn." Kebabs are hard to find their origin, but Iraqi's date back to cooking kebabs in the 9th century.
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Religion's Role in Food
Iraqi food is so strongly influenced by its neighboring countries, Turkey and Iran, it is one of the few nations of the Middle East to lack a unique cuisine. Like the Turks, Iraqis like to stuff vegetables and eat a lot of lamb, rice, and yogurt. Like Iranians, they enjoy cooking fruits with beef and poultry. Because the majority of Iraqi's are Muslim, they cannot eat certain foods because of this reason. Alcohol and pork are the only things that are forbidden for Muslims to eat and for any meat that is eaten must be prayed over first.
The environment in Iraq is as varied as the different regions, ranging from tropical in the east and southeast, to dry and desert-like in the west. The north is pleasant during summer months and freezing in the winter months. On average, Iraq is a dry country, even in the fertile lands between the rivers. Since the country is so dry, there are few plants, except for the date palm, known for its fruit, dates. In fact, more than 80 percent of the world's date supply is grown in Iraq, which makes this one of the few reasons of diffusion with spreading dates across the world.
Settled between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, the area known as Iraq today was called Mesopotamia up until the end of World War I. Although the area received little rainfall, the soil around the rivers fertilized many different crops. The rich soil, commonly referred to as the "Fertile Crescent” produced crops such as leeks, onions, lentils, wheat, and barley. The native olive tree was valued for both its fruit and oil. Sumerian stone tablets dating to 2500 B.C. record the usage of figs, which when cooked, were used as sweeteners in place of sugar.
Iraqi food is so strongly influenced by its neighboring countries, Turkey and Iran, it is one of the few nations of the Middle East to lack a unique cuisine. Like the Turks, Iraqis like to stuff vegetables and eat a lot of lamb, rice, and yogurt. Like Iranians, they enjoy cooking fruits with beef and poultry.
While researching Iraq’s food history, I found it very interesting that they are so unalike from us here in the U.S. I’m use to ready to go boxes of rice, bread that comes sliced in bags, and fruits that are precut and “organic.” In Iraq they are significantly more healthy because of their home cooked meals—to me, that’s pretty impressive and unique that they do not have the problem of obesity.
Settled between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, the area known as Iraq today was called Mesopotamia up until the end of World War I. Although the area received little rainfall, the soil around the rivers fertilized many different crops. The rich soil, commonly referred to as the "Fertile Crescent” produced crops such as leeks, onions, lentils, wheat, and barley. The native olive tree was valued for both its fruit and oil. Sumerian stone tablets dating to 2500 B.C. record the usage of figs, which when cooked, were used as sweeteners in place of sugar.
Iraqi food is so strongly influenced by its neighboring countries, Turkey and Iran, it is one of the few nations of the Middle East to lack a unique cuisine. Like the Turks, Iraqis like to stuff vegetables and eat a lot of lamb, rice, and yogurt. Like Iranians, they enjoy cooking fruits with beef and poultry.
While researching Iraq’s food history, I found it very interesting that they are so unalike from us here in the U.S. I’m use to ready to go boxes of rice, bread that comes sliced in bags, and fruits that are precut and “organic.” In Iraq they are significantly more healthy because of their home cooked meals—to me, that’s pretty impressive and unique that they do not have the problem of obesity.
Works Cited
Iraq. (2016). Retrieved November 28, 2016, from http://www.foodbycountry.com/Germany-to-Japan/Iraq.html
Which foods are forbidden to Muslims? (n.d.). Retrieved November 28, 2016, from https://www.reference.com/world-view/can-muslims-eat-c5731ffb157ceadb
Iraq. (2016). Retrieved November 28, 2016, from http://www.foodbycountry.com/Germany-to-Japan/Iraq.html
Which foods are forbidden to Muslims? (n.d.). Retrieved November 28, 2016, from https://www.reference.com/world-view/can-muslims-eat-c5731ffb157ceadb
Loss of Cultural Diversity
Cultural Diversity is described as the presence of a variety of cultural or ethnic groups within a civilization. When most people think of Iraq and their country’s culture, they see it as a group of people who are completely identical, that happen to be mostly Muslims. It’s hard to see Iraq’s culture fifty plus years ago because anytime you look up Iraq’s culture, you only see the present and the traumatic events that happen here. There are no variations in Iraq that we know of today in their culture, but from what Iraq use to be back in ancient days is a huge change.
Iraq was once known as Mesopotamia, which was the first known human civilization ever. Because of it being the first human development, it was able to create different empires and civilizations! Mesopotamia, ancient Iraq, was called the “cradle of civilization” mainly because of two changes that struck in Sumer, in the fourth millennium BCE: the ascent of the “city” that we can identify today and the creation of script, or writing. Unlike Egypt or Greece, Mesopotamia was a group of diverse cultures whose only real ties were their writings, their Gods, and their manner. This era was where we saw many beliefs rise and fall.
As the Mesopotamian civilization advanced, so did their culture. They developed a variety of celebrations, rituals, traditions, and much more! These events became an imperative part in the lives of many people here. Many rituals and ceremonies were centered around certain rights of passage, such as childbirth and weddings, and these were normally admired with banquets that would generally contain music, dancing, and food, though the food was available when determined by the social rank of the family. Unfortunately, the kind of music is undetermined during this time, but based off logical data because of the Mesopotamian scripts, we can see that there was in fact music which had the drawings of people dancing. Their daily life culture was regularly revolved around work. Men would go to a specified job like a builder, and the women would stay at home and take care of the children. The max amount of children in a home during this time was either three or four kids, but these are only those who could survive to a certain age—Infant death was extremely high as was a miscarriage. To protect an unborn child, the expecting mother would wear what they call amulets, which is a small piece of jewelry, that would help shelter the child against evil. The children during this time were raised according to what gender they were—boys learned skills they could use to work and the girls were raised to be proper wives and mothers. Once a child became of age to be married, families would then arrange the marriage and the service is to be considered that the husband would dispense perfume onto the head of his new spouse. Finally, as a bride, the woman was to take on the responsibilities they were taught like cooking, cleaning, and raising children.
Just like modern day Iraq, religion played an important role in Mesopotamia’s culture. The cultures of Mesopotamia had a polytheistic faith system, which means they believed in multiple gods rather than just one God. They also believed that there were demons and this is what the pregnant mother would be using jewelry to protect her unborn child against. All the people adored these Gods and felt that they were the ones to keep the land and their life happy. They believed that if one of the Gods were upset, then they would be punished by natural disaster or other bad happenings; so the people did their finest to keep the Gods happy. Each city in Mesopotamia had its own God or Goddess. Some of the most important deities of Mesopotamia were An(Anu) who was considered the Sky God as well as the forefather of the Gods, Enki(Ea) which was the God of fresh water and recognized for his intelligence, Inanna(Ishtar) who was the Goddess of love, fertility, and war, the God of the moon was Nanna(Sin), and then Utu(Shamash) was the God of the sun and integrity.
From looking at Iraq as Mesopotamia and discovering their loss of cultural diversity and what alterations they went through, we can see so much has changed. In Iraq today, Islam is the state religion and claims the beliefs of about ninety-five percent of the population which considers them apart of the Muslim or Arab culture. As a Muslim, you only believe in one God rather than multiple Gods like the Mesopotamians. The second greatest cultural group in Iraq would be the Kurds, who exist in the highlands and mountain valleys of the north. The Kurds dominate the jurisdictions of As Sulaymaniyah, Dahuk, and Irbil, the area of which is commonly referred to as Kurdistan. These two are the main cultures represented in Iraq, but the remaining ethnic groups include Assyrian, Turkoman, Chaldean, Armenian, Yazidi, and Jewish. Although there are many distinctions from Mesopotamia to modern day Iraq, women, men, and children still experience the same obligations as they once did many years ago. There has been so much loss of cultural diversity in Iraq because of making the main religion Islam and taking away many freedoms. There is hope for Iraq though with their bountiful amount of resources to bring in other people around to add different ethnics to their country and offer diverse cultures. Many different establishments are trying to assist children and women there to develop a better life. It is clear that Iraq wants to preserve their culture and they did this by making sure there was a declared religion so that most people would be alike. Not having cultural diversity in a country is not always a good thing, especially if one were to travel to another country—that person would have a culture shock and be unaware of how other ethnic groups interact, believe, and go on with their daily lives. Culture is a strong part of people’s lives and it’s important to always identify yourself with your culture, but it’s also imperative to respect other people’s ethnicity as well.
Iraq was once known as Mesopotamia, which was the first known human civilization ever. Because of it being the first human development, it was able to create different empires and civilizations! Mesopotamia, ancient Iraq, was called the “cradle of civilization” mainly because of two changes that struck in Sumer, in the fourth millennium BCE: the ascent of the “city” that we can identify today and the creation of script, or writing. Unlike Egypt or Greece, Mesopotamia was a group of diverse cultures whose only real ties were their writings, their Gods, and their manner. This era was where we saw many beliefs rise and fall.
As the Mesopotamian civilization advanced, so did their culture. They developed a variety of celebrations, rituals, traditions, and much more! These events became an imperative part in the lives of many people here. Many rituals and ceremonies were centered around certain rights of passage, such as childbirth and weddings, and these were normally admired with banquets that would generally contain music, dancing, and food, though the food was available when determined by the social rank of the family. Unfortunately, the kind of music is undetermined during this time, but based off logical data because of the Mesopotamian scripts, we can see that there was in fact music which had the drawings of people dancing. Their daily life culture was regularly revolved around work. Men would go to a specified job like a builder, and the women would stay at home and take care of the children. The max amount of children in a home during this time was either three or four kids, but these are only those who could survive to a certain age—Infant death was extremely high as was a miscarriage. To protect an unborn child, the expecting mother would wear what they call amulets, which is a small piece of jewelry, that would help shelter the child against evil. The children during this time were raised according to what gender they were—boys learned skills they could use to work and the girls were raised to be proper wives and mothers. Once a child became of age to be married, families would then arrange the marriage and the service is to be considered that the husband would dispense perfume onto the head of his new spouse. Finally, as a bride, the woman was to take on the responsibilities they were taught like cooking, cleaning, and raising children.
Just like modern day Iraq, religion played an important role in Mesopotamia’s culture. The cultures of Mesopotamia had a polytheistic faith system, which means they believed in multiple gods rather than just one God. They also believed that there were demons and this is what the pregnant mother would be using jewelry to protect her unborn child against. All the people adored these Gods and felt that they were the ones to keep the land and their life happy. They believed that if one of the Gods were upset, then they would be punished by natural disaster or other bad happenings; so the people did their finest to keep the Gods happy. Each city in Mesopotamia had its own God or Goddess. Some of the most important deities of Mesopotamia were An(Anu) who was considered the Sky God as well as the forefather of the Gods, Enki(Ea) which was the God of fresh water and recognized for his intelligence, Inanna(Ishtar) who was the Goddess of love, fertility, and war, the God of the moon was Nanna(Sin), and then Utu(Shamash) was the God of the sun and integrity.
From looking at Iraq as Mesopotamia and discovering their loss of cultural diversity and what alterations they went through, we can see so much has changed. In Iraq today, Islam is the state religion and claims the beliefs of about ninety-five percent of the population which considers them apart of the Muslim or Arab culture. As a Muslim, you only believe in one God rather than multiple Gods like the Mesopotamians. The second greatest cultural group in Iraq would be the Kurds, who exist in the highlands and mountain valleys of the north. The Kurds dominate the jurisdictions of As Sulaymaniyah, Dahuk, and Irbil, the area of which is commonly referred to as Kurdistan. These two are the main cultures represented in Iraq, but the remaining ethnic groups include Assyrian, Turkoman, Chaldean, Armenian, Yazidi, and Jewish. Although there are many distinctions from Mesopotamia to modern day Iraq, women, men, and children still experience the same obligations as they once did many years ago. There has been so much loss of cultural diversity in Iraq because of making the main religion Islam and taking away many freedoms. There is hope for Iraq though with their bountiful amount of resources to bring in other people around to add different ethnics to their country and offer diverse cultures. Many different establishments are trying to assist children and women there to develop a better life. It is clear that Iraq wants to preserve their culture and they did this by making sure there was a declared religion so that most people would be alike. Not having cultural diversity in a country is not always a good thing, especially if one were to travel to another country—that person would have a culture shock and be unaware of how other ethnic groups interact, believe, and go on with their daily lives. Culture is a strong part of people’s lives and it’s important to always identify yourself with your culture, but it’s also imperative to respect other people’s ethnicity as well.
References
Iraq. (n.d.). Retrieved November 13, 2016, from http://www.everyculture.com/Ge-It/Iraq.html
Iraq History, Language and Culture. (2016). Retrieved November 13, 2016, from http://www.worldtravelguide.net/iraq/history-language-culture
Learning about Ancient Mesopotamian Religion and Culture. (n.d.). Retrieved November 13, 2016, from http://www.smspromotions.org/mesopotamian-religion.html
Mark, J. (2009). Mesopotamia. Retrieved November 13, 2016, from http://www.ancient.eu/Mesopotamia/
Iraq. (n.d.). Retrieved November 13, 2016, from http://www.everyculture.com/Ge-It/Iraq.html
Iraq History, Language and Culture. (2016). Retrieved November 13, 2016, from http://www.worldtravelguide.net/iraq/history-language-culture
Learning about Ancient Mesopotamian Religion and Culture. (n.d.). Retrieved November 13, 2016, from http://www.smspromotions.org/mesopotamian-religion.html
Mark, J. (2009). Mesopotamia. Retrieved November 13, 2016, from http://www.ancient.eu/Mesopotamia/
Religion in Modern Day Iraq
Most people in Iraq consider themselves to be Muslim which is a person who believes in Islam. Islam can be traced back to early Saudi Arabia in Mecca. This is one of the earliest of great world religions. Muhammad, which is their prophet, introduced Islam in 610 A.D. after declaring that he experienced an angelic visitation. Muhammad was then able to spread the teachings of Islam throughout the Arabian Peninsula with the help of his followers. After the death of the prophet, different military expeditions that helped spread the religion occurred mostly in North Africa, Egypt, and finally Iraq. There are other minority religions in Iraq like Christianity or Hinduism, but not as dominant as Islam. Because of Iraq’s own civil war with the Sunnis and Shi’a, most of these religions have fled the country.
Though Islam was the official religion of Iraq under Saddam Hussein, it was kept for the most part a resolved social and political strength. Iraq is very culturally diverse, but Iraqis generally are religious and conservative people. The religion of Islam in Iraq influences everyday life in Iraq multiple ways. Iraqi’s are given the right to vote, but many believe that the election is fixed—people are not allowed to speak out against the government because it can result in persecution and if someone feels that a fellow Iraqi is not loyal, they will turn them in. With being a conservative group of people, Muslims live by certain rules they must follow in society. These rules consist of respecting your elders, that only births of boys are allowed to be celebrated, women doctors are not allowed to work on men, and that family’s needs are most important.
A Mosque is a Muslim place of worship that are easily to be found in Iraq. Muslims gather here at this sacred place every Friday for afternoon prayer. Most of Islam's sacred places are in the Middle East, specifically the Arabian Peninsula. The area of ancient Mesopotamia and northern Africa are important in Islam as well. In the Shia holy city of Najaf, in southern Iraq is the mosque and shrine of Imam Ali. For Shia Muslims, it is the third holiest place in the world after Mecca and Medina. In the United States, there are mosques offered to Muslims who which to practice their religion of Islam. I included a map of mosques in America and how many mosques are offered in each state as of 2015.
Saddam Hussein was the fifth president of Iraq and influenced his religion of Sunni Islam onto all Iraqi’s. He was not the only president to force his religious beliefs onto Iraq’s civilians, but is definitely a guy that people know well today—Hussein was widely known for his brutality of his dictatorship. There were and still are connections between government and religion in Iraq, Hussein was only an example. I feel that in practically every country religion and government have many connections. For example, in the United States people who are Pro-Life believers typically are because of their religion, but abortion is determined at a government level. Politicians are often elected or not elected because of their religious beliefs.
Iraq is no place I would feel comfortable going to being a member of the Christian Church. Iraq’s role of religion in their country is highly considered when making life decisions, relating to society, or governmental issues. Lots of times though people get religion and beliefs mixed up. Beliefs do not necessarily always have to do with religious issues.
Works Cited
Iraq. (2016). Retrieved October 16, 2016, from http://www.everyculture.com/Ge-It/Iraq.html
Islamic sacred places - ReligionFacts. (2015, November 08). Retrieved October 17, 2016, from http://www.religionfacts.com/islam/places
Origin Of Islam. (2002). Retrieved October 16, 2016, from http://www.allaboutreligion.org/origin-of-islam.htm
Sacred Destinations. (2005). Retrieved October 17, 2016, fromhttp://www.sacreddestinations.com/iraq
Timeline of Islam. (2001). Retrieved October 16, 2016, from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/teach/muslims/timeline.html
Iraq. (2016). Retrieved October 16, 2016, from http://www.everyculture.com/Ge-It/Iraq.html
Islamic sacred places - ReligionFacts. (2015, November 08). Retrieved October 17, 2016, from http://www.religionfacts.com/islam/places
Origin Of Islam. (2002). Retrieved October 16, 2016, from http://www.allaboutreligion.org/origin-of-islam.htm
Sacred Destinations. (2005). Retrieved October 17, 2016, fromhttp://www.sacreddestinations.com/iraq
Timeline of Islam. (2001). Retrieved October 16, 2016, from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/teach/muslims/timeline.html
Major Diseases in Iraq
Bacterial Diarrhea, Hepatitis A, Typhoid Fever
Population In Capital
5,750,000 people in Baghdad
Language
Arabic, Kurdish, Turkmen, Assyrian, Armenian
Ages and Percentage of Population
Ages 0-14 (39.88%)
Ages 15-24 (10.07%)
Ages 25-54 (33.7%)
Ages 55-64 (3.96%)
Ages 65+ (3.39%)
Improved Drinking Water for the People
Urban improved Water 93.8%
Rural improved Water 70.1%
Total Improved Water 86.6%
Child Labor
Ages from 5-14 has 715,737 children forced to work
Religion Percentages
Muslim 99%
Christian .8%
Hindu .1%
Jewish .1%
Bacterial Diarrhea, Hepatitis A, Typhoid Fever
Population In Capital
5,750,000 people in Baghdad
Language
Arabic, Kurdish, Turkmen, Assyrian, Armenian
Ages and Percentage of Population
Ages 0-14 (39.88%)
Ages 15-24 (10.07%)
Ages 25-54 (33.7%)
Ages 55-64 (3.96%)
Ages 65+ (3.39%)
Improved Drinking Water for the People
Urban improved Water 93.8%
Rural improved Water 70.1%
Total Improved Water 86.6%
Child Labor
Ages from 5-14 has 715,737 children forced to work
Religion Percentages
Muslim 99%
Christian .8%
Hindu .1%
Jewish .1%
In the two maps above, it shows Iraq and how the number of murders has increased in just three years. On the left, in the year 2002, there were about 4 murders for every 100,000 people. Just three years later the number has increased to 8.5 murders for every 100,000 people! That more than half in just three years. The bubble represented that is in bold takes up almost the entire country now.
This timeline shows the transition from the year 1980 to the year 2007 on the percentage of males ages 15-64 that are forced to work based off the population of their country. This trail is very surprising considering most of the articles I read on Iraq and how boys are forced work, but in this picture above, the bigger the population gets the less males are forced to work. However, a lot of the articles I have read talk a lot about how boys under the age of fifteen years old are forced to work as well. So although this graph is accurate, it does not include those who are younger than fifteen years old.
The map above shows the battle deaths around the world in the year 2004! Two years prior, Iraq was not the largest and had about 10 deaths per 100,000. In this map the number has sky rocketed, outdoing any other country in the world and shows 252 deaths per 100,000! This is the largest ever.
The world map above represents three main religions around the world on the most recent year, 2015. All the blue dots represent Christianity, the red dots represent other Eastern Religions, and the green that happens to be where Iraq is at is Muslim. The majority of Iraq is completely Muslim, making it their main religion.
Below are two resources for information about the culture of Iraq
Link One: www.everyculture.com/Ge-It/Iraq.html
This website is a good place to start when learning about the culture of Iraq. It has a little bit of everything-- food, ethnic relations, orientation, social stratification, politics, gender roles, family life, religion, ect...
Link Two: www.commisceo-global.com/country-guides/iraq-guide
This link is a good website to visit for various reasons. Not only does it give you the culture of the country, but it also provides information on proper etiquette like dining, business meetings, gift giving, and different communication styles. It also provides basic facts and statistics on the page as well.
This website is a good place to start when learning about the culture of Iraq. It has a little bit of everything-- food, ethnic relations, orientation, social stratification, politics, gender roles, family life, religion, ect...
Link Two: www.commisceo-global.com/country-guides/iraq-guide
This link is a good website to visit for various reasons. Not only does it give you the culture of the country, but it also provides information on proper etiquette like dining, business meetings, gift giving, and different communication styles. It also provides basic facts and statistics on the page as well.
This map represent the cultural element of Religion. I picked Religion and specifically Muslim because when people think about Iraq, the first thing that pops into their heads is Muslim. But not many people realize that Northern Africa is also mostly Muslim. The map shown above shows the main areas of where Muslim Religion exists. the red-orange color is where it is the highest and we can see that Iraq is completely covered in this color, but it's important to know that Iraq consists of other religions too like Christianity.
Citation: Historical Maps of the Islamic World. (n.d.). Retrieved September 24, 2016, from http://www.edmaps.com/html/islamic_world.html