Kurdish History Journal
Articles filed under Kurdish Art and Culture.
Aşure is Kurdish Noah’s pudding — wheat, walnuts, pomegranate seeds, dried figs, apricots and chickpeas cooked into a sweet pudding and distributed to forty neighbours during Muharram. Noah’s Ark landed on Mount Ararat in Kurdish Bakur; Kurdish communities have been making this pudding from the Kurdish pantry ever since.
Read article →A named account of Koçer breakfast connects thin bread with fresh cheese, butter and the morning milk fire. Other Kurdish and Hakkari sources reveal a wider world of tools, shared labour and urban bakeries.
Read article →Hejîr (هەنجیری) is the Kurdish fig — wild fig grows spontaneously in Kurdistan, and the fig is probably the world’s first cultivated fruit, over 11,000 years old. Named with the olive in the Quran as a sacred fruit, the hejîr connects the Kurdish mountains to the very beginning of human agriculture.
Read article →Mulberries connect orchard work with dried fruit, pekmez and pestil. Documented examples from Çemişgezek/Ulukale and Halabja show how regional food traditions can be studied through growers’ organisations, local records and food-science research.
Read article →Kurdish wedding meals bring together cooking, hospitality, gifts and performance. Accounts from a language teacher, a wedding guest and a published photographic collection reveal shared work alongside differences in menu, setting and duration.
Read article →Izot, commonly written isot or sold as Urfa biber, is the dark pepper spice associated with Urfa in southeast Turkey. Its character comes from the crop, drying and finishing methods, and the ways cooks use it.
Read article →Genim is the Kurdish word for wheat — and einkorn wheat, ancestor of all bread wheat, was first domesticated on Karacadağ mountain near Diyarbakır / Amed, in Kurdish Bakur. The Kurdish mountains are where farming began.
Read article →The olive’s history involves wild trees, long cultivation and movement around the Mediterranean. Genetic research, archaeological charcoal and a documented orchard in Iraqi Kurdistan illuminate different parts of that history.
Read article →Van breakfast combines local dairy foods, eggs and grain preparations. Its registered description and regional inventories explain the components and their preparation.
Read article →Pestil turns fruit into thin, chewy sheets. Named accounts of Kurdish harvest work, Siirt’s almond-filled mağmoz and Bingöl’s vineyards show how a regional preserve connects fruit growing, shared labour and winter eating.
Read article →Charcoal grilling is part of Kurdish cooking in bazaars, restaurants and gatherings with family and friends. Published recipes and first-person accounts show how the grill, skewered meat, bread and accompaniments work together in particular Kurdish meals.
Read article →Dried apricots give shilay qaysi its sweet fruit flavour. Family recipes and memories show how this Kurdish dish accompanies rice and meat, while also revealing variation in ingredients and serving occasions.
Read article →Gûz is the Kurdish walnut — a tree whose wild ancestors grow in the Zagros mountains, the heart of Kurdistan. Used pickled, in syrup, in halva, and cracked with tea in winter, it is one of the most ancient and versatile foods of the Kurdish kitchen.
Read article →Local cultivars, cooking and remembered beliefs give pomegranates a specific place in Kurdish life, alongside their wider regional history.
Read article →Somaq is the Kurdish name for sumac — the wild dark-red mountain spice at the heart of Kurdish sourness. Ground on grilled meat, steeped in water for sour stews like meftûne, and scattered on onions beside the kebab, it is the spice that underlies a whole cuisine’s love of acidity.
Read article →Rewas, or rêwas, is associated with Rheum ribes, a perennial mountain plant. Botanical records and Kurdish field interviews explain its spring food uses, the social life of its stalks and concerns about how wild plants are gathered.
Read article →Rûn can mean oil or cooking fat more broadly; Kurdish butter oil is a particular dairy preparation. Cultural accounts and laboratory research document the stages from yogurt and churning to butter, maturation and clarification.
Read article →Kaburga dolmasî is the stuffed lamb ribs of Amed (Diyarbakır) — lamb ribs filled with spiced rice, almonds, currants, and pine nuts and slow-cooked for hours. The great Kurdish meat-feast of the Feast of Sacrifice and weddings.
Read article →Dûşav is Kurdish grape molasses — fruit juice boiled down into a dark natural sweetener, eaten with tahini as rashî w dûşav. With honey and rose, one of the old sweetnesses of the Kurdish kitchen, made in autumn to last the winter.
Read article →Sirmo is a regional name for wild Allium plants used in Kurdish food traditions, especially Van herbed cheese. Botanical studies document several species and local names.
Read article →Named Kurdish cooks document mixed pickles as a varied preparation and an accompaniment to meals. Their accounts explain ingredients and seasonal food knowledge; tested preservation guidance distinguishes vinegar pickling from fermentation and canning.
Read article →Zerde’s regional recipes differ in colouring, perfume, texture and garnish. Sources from Urfa, Kilis and Karabük also record particular serving customs.
Read article →Darex (the pearl mullet, Alburnus tarichi) is the only fish able to live in Lake Wan’s soda water — a staple of Kurdish villages around the lake, eaten fried or grilled and salted and dried for winter, famous for its salmon-like spawning leap.
Read article →Penîrê giyayî (jajî; Van otlu peyniri) is the Kurdish wild-herb cheese of Wan (Van) — sheep’s-milk cheese studded with foraged mountain herbs like sirmo, the heart of the famous Wan breakfast.
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