Travel Tuesday: Street Food in Iraq

Mazgouf, a fish native to the Tigris River, being cooked by an open fire at Abu Nuwas Park, Baghdad. This is a local specialty. The fish is cut in half and cooked. The remaining skin acts as a bowl as you scoop out the gooey innards.

There's been a lot of grim news coming out of Iraq for a long time now. Usually when we see Iraq on TV we see some psycho fundamentalist or something that's just blown up. So it's important to remember that real people still live there and are trying to make the most out of a bad situation.

Back in 2012 I traveled to Iraq and wrote a series about it for the now moribund travel blog Gadling. It was one of the best and most intense trips of my life. Click the link to read the series. Sadly, the photo galleries have been taken offline, but you can still read the articles.

So here, for your culinary enjoyment, are some photos of the food, mostly street food, I ate while I was there. There are more after the jump. Bon appetit!

Mazgouf ready to be eaten.

Fruit stand on the highway to the north of Baghdad.

Cooking shish kebab near Mosul.

Doner kebab, anyone? It's just as greasy here as it is in London!

Shot of the restaurant by the highway near Mosul. The two above shots are from this restaurant.

Sweet shop in Karbala.

Want some?

A taste of home.