Iraqi cuisine or
Mesopotamian cuisine has a long history going back some 10,000 years – to the
Sumerians,
Babylonians,
Assyrians, and
Ancient Persians.
Tablets found in ancient ruins in Iraq show recipes prepared in the temples during religious festivals – the first
cookbooks in the world.
Ancient Iraq, or
Mesopotamia, was home to a sophisticated and highly advanced civilization, in all fields of knowledge, including the
culinary arts. However, it was in the
Islamic Golden Age when
Baghdad was the capital of the
Abbasid Caliphate (750–1258) that the Iraqi kitchen reached its zenith. Today, the cuisine of Iraq reflects this rich inheritance as well as strong influences from the culinary traditions of neighbouring
Persia,
Turkey and the
Syria region area.