XOFRAN EL-RADÎ

Baghdad - Foods are like our lifestyle affected by our traditions and culture. Iraqi cuisine has been about disappeared due to the fast-food sector in Iraq. Writer Nexem Necar makes a great effort to keep alive the cuisine culture in Iraq. She wrote what she knows about foods and Iraqi cuisine culture in her first cookbook titled, “Cooking is my passion”. The 476-page book has 20 chapters. There are 500 recipes of Iraqi foods and foods around the world. 

“It was affected by Damascus cuisine”

Stating that some foods are mostly known as Turkish, Indian and Iranian dishes, Nexem Necar said, “For instance, some foods as known as dishes of Ottoman cuisine; however, these foods have a much longer history in Iraq. I can show many similar examples. It (Ottoman cuisine) was affected by Iraqi and Damascus cuisine. Even if the Damascus cuisine is a rich cuisine, we cannot deny the cuisine culture of Southern Kurdistan.”

Nexem Necar works on writing a new book

Nexem Necar wrote the recipes of her grandmother in her first book, “I wrote everything I learned from my grandmother, mother and old women. They had cooking tricks and I wrote them in my book. Iraqis have a rich food culture and they also love to eat. Now, I am working on my new book. I focus on herbs and I will write their benefits in my second book and how we can use them.”