Did you try masgouf before?!
This iraqi dish goes back to Sumer and babylon
Of course. Several times. Also in Europe. It is one of my most favorite dishes because I love fish.
I eat a lot of fish during a normal week. Don't forget the rich seafood tradition of Hijaz.
Yes, just like kleicha dating back millennia (rumored at least).
For example in KSA (Najd) the kleicha tends to be a bit bigger than in Iraq from what I have noticed.
Interestingly, just like with kleicha, there is a similar dish in the Eastern Province of KSA and a similar way of preparing fish. It must be very ancient mutual influences. Those regions (Southern Iraq) and Eastern Arabia are very similar. In fact Southern Iraq is/was considered to part of Eastern Arabia. The region that was called Bahrain after the fall of the Semitic empires in Iraq around 800 BC.
Some scholars contest the idea of a Proto-Euphratean language or one substrate language; they think the Sumerian language may originally have been that of the hunting and fishing peoples who lived in the marshland and the Eastern Arabia littoral region and were part of the Arabian bifacial culture.[12] Reliable historical records begin much later; there are none in Sumer of any kind that have been dated before Enmebaragesi (c. 26th century BC). Juris Zarins believes the Sumerians lived along the coast of Eastern Arabia, today's Persian Gulf region, before it was flooded at the end of the Ice Age.[13]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumer
Geographically, human migration pattern and geography (the Gulf looked completely different at that time period, it was more or a lake, rather than today not to mention much less arid).
Then you have the close connection (even spiritual) between Sumer and Dilmun. Hence why we have names of Dilmun rulers that are as old as the first known rulers in contemporary Southern Iraq and Egypt.
Dilmun was an important trading centre. At the height of its power, it controlled the Persian Gulf trading routes.[1] According to some modern theories, the Sumeriansregarded Dilmun as a sacred place,[11] but that is never stated in any known ancient text. Dilmun was mentioned by the Mesopotamians as a trade partner, a source of copper, and a trade entrepôt.
The Sumerian tale of the garden paradise of Dilmun may have been an inspiration for the Garden of Eden story.[12][13][14]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dilmun
The importance of bulls too.
Bull's head, made of copper in the early period of Dilmun (ca. 2000 BC), discovered by Danish archeologists under Barbar Temple,
Bahrain.
Correspondence between
Ilī-ippašra, the governor of Dilmun, and Enlil-kidinni, the governor of
Nippur, ca. 1350 BC
Regardless of origins (although we know for a fact nowadays that the first humans in the Middle East migrated into the remaining Middle East from Arabia and Sinai) those two regions have had very close ties for millennia (since written history began in the region and btw also the world - since writing was invented in our region) and this continues today obviously although under different identities (no surprise). But appearance wise, dialect, culture, geography, cuisine, have stayed very similar.
I also have noticed that Southern Iraqi Shia Arabs (whether religious ones or traditionalists) have a special affinity for Shia Eastern Arabians more than for anyone else outside of their country. Obviously natural. Also there is affinity for Yemen due to tribal origins. But we are back to square one, namely the closeness of contemporary Iraq and Arabia. You can find similar such examples across the Arab world whether in regards to KSA/Arabia-Egyptian relations (pre-dating Islam by millennia), Arabia-Levant relations, Iraq/Mesopotamia-Levant relations etc.
That's why I always stress what we have in common rather than what divides us as people which is mostly a political aspect. Of course each region has its own distinctive culture and thank God for that but looking at the situation from just 2.5 meters above the surface, the existing divisions are mostly unnatural and completely unnecessary.
But you will always have a minority of idiots on both side whether within a country (divides in Iraq or in KSA based on sect, tribe, region, social status and whatever) but the job is to give as little power to such people so they can keep their rants online or during heated discussions in person.
