1.
Iraq
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The capital, and largest city, is Baghdad. The main ethnic groups are Arabs and Kurds, others include Assyrians, Turkmen, Shabakis, Yazidis, Armenians, Mandeans, Circassians, around 95% of the countrys 36 million citizens are Muslims, with Christianity, Yarsan, Yezidism, and Mandeanism also present. The official languages of Iraq are Arabic and Kurdish, two major rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates, run south through Iraq and into the Shatt al-Arab near the Persian Gulf. These rivers provide Iraq with significant amounts of fertile land, the region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, historically known as Mesopotamia, is often referred to as the cradle of civilisation. It was here that mankind first began to read, write, create laws, the area has been home to successive civilisations since the 6th millennium BC. Iraq was the centre of the Akkadian, Sumerian, Assyrian and it was also part of the Median, Achaemenid, Hellenistic, Parthian, Sassanid, Roman, Rashidun, Umayyad, Abbasid, Ayyubid, Mongol, Safavid, Afsharid, and Ottoman empires. Iraqs modern borders were mostly demarcated in 1920 by the League of Nations when the Ottoman Empire was divided by the Treaty of Sèvres, Iraq was placed under the authority of the United Kingdom as the British Mandate of Mesopotamia. A monarchy was established in 1921 and the Kingdom of Iraq gained independence from Britain in 1932, in 1958, the monarchy was overthrown and the Iraqi Republic created. Iraq was controlled by the Arab Socialist Baath Party from 1968 until 2003, after an invasion by the United States and its allies in 2003, Saddam Husseins Baath Party was removed from power and multi-party parliamentary elections were held in 2005. The American presence in Iraq ended in 2011, but the Iraqi insurgency continued and intensified as fighters from the Syrian Civil War spilled into the country, the Arabic name العراق al-ʿIrāq has been in use since before the 6th century. There are several suggested origins for the name, one dates to the Sumerian city of Uruk and is thus ultimately of Sumerian origin, as Uruk was the Akkadian name for the Sumerian city of Urug, containing the Sumerian word for city, UR. An Arabic folk etymology for the name is rooted, well-watered. During the medieval period, there was a region called ʿIrāq ʿArabī for Lower Mesopotamia and ʿIrāq ʿajamī, for the region now situated in Central and Western Iran. The term historically included the south of the Hamrin Mountains. The term Sawad was also used in early Islamic times for the region of the plain of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. In English, it is either /ɪˈrɑːk/ or /ɪˈræk/, the American Heritage Dictionary, the pronunciation /aɪˈræk/ is frequently heard in U. S. media. Since approximately 10,000 BC, Iraq was one of centres of a Caucasoid Neolithic culture where agriculture, the following Neolithic period is represented by rectangular houses. At the time of the pre-pottery Neolithic, people used vessels made of stone, gypsum, finds of obsidian tools from Anatolia are evidences of early trade relations
2.
Sumer
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Living along the valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates, Sumerian farmers were able to grow an abundance of grain and other crops, the surplus of which enabled them to settle in one place. Proto-writing in the dates back to c.3000 BC. The earliest texts come from the cities of Uruk and Jemdet Nasr and date back to 3300 BC, modern historians have suggested that Sumer was first permanently settled between c.5500 and 4000 BC by a West Asian people who spoke the Sumerian language, an agglutinative language isolate. These conjectured, prehistoric people are now called proto-Euphrateans or Ubaidians, some scholars contest the idea of a Proto-Euphratean language or one substrate language. Reliable historical records begin much later, there are none in Sumer of any kind that have dated before Enmebaragesi. Juris Zarins believes the Sumerians lived along the coast of Eastern Arabia, todays Persian Gulf region, Sumerian civilization took form in the Uruk period, continuing into the Jemdet Nasr and Early Dynastic periods. During the 3rd millennium BC, a cultural symbiosis developed between the Sumerians, who spoke a language isolate, and Akkadian-speakers, which included widespread bilingualism. The influence of Sumerian on Akkadian is evident in all areas, from lexical borrowing on a scale, to syntactic, morphological. This has prompted scholars to refer to Sumerian and Akkadian in the 3rd millennium BC as a Sprachbund, Sumer was conquered by the Semitic-speaking kings of the Akkadian Empire around 2270 BC, but Sumerian continued as a sacred language. Native Sumerian rule re-emerged for about a century in the Neo-Sumerian Empire or Third Dynasty of Ur approximately 2100-2000 BC, the term Sumerian is the common name given to the ancient non-Semitic-speaking inhabitants of Mesopotamia, Sumer, by the East Semitic-speaking Akkadians. The Sumerians referred to themselves as ùĝ saĝ gíg ga, phonetically /uŋ saŋ gi ga/, literally meaning the black-headed people, the Akkadian word Shumer may represent the geographical name in dialect, but the phonological development leading to the Akkadian term šumerû is uncertain. Hebrew Shinar, Egyptian Sngr, and Hittite Šanhar, all referring to southern Mesopotamia, in the late 4th millennium BC, Sumer was divided into many independent city-states, which were divided by canals and boundary stones. Each was centered on a dedicated to the particular patron god or goddess of the city. The Sumerian city-states rose to power during the prehistoric Ubaid and Uruk periods, classical Sumer ends with the rise of the Akkadian Empire in the 23rd century BC. Following the Gutian period, there is a brief Sumerian Renaissance in the 21st century BC, the Amorite dynasty of Isin persisted until c.1700 BC, when Mesopotamia was united under Babylonian rule. The Sumerians were eventually absorbed into the Akkadian population, 2500–2334 BC Akkadian Empire period, c. 2218–2047 BC Ur III period, c, 2047–1940 BC The Ubaid period is marked by a distinctive style of fine quality painted pottery which spread throughout Mesopotamia and the Persian Gulf. It appears that this culture was derived from the Samarran culture from northern Mesopotamia and it is not known whether or not these were the actual Sumerians who are identified with the later Uruk culture
3.
Akkadian Empire
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The empire united all the Akkadian and Sumerian speakers under one rule. The Akkadian Empire controlled Mesopotamia, the Levant, and eastern and southern parts of Anatolia and Iran, sending military expeditions as far south as Dilmun and Magan in the Arabian Peninsula. During the 3rd millennium BC, there developed an intimate cultural symbiosis between the Sumerians and the Akkadians, which included widespread bilingualism. Akkadian gradually replaced Sumerian as a spoken language somewhere between the 3rd and the 2nd millennia BC, the Akkadian Empire reached its political peak between the 24th and 22nd centuries BC, following the conquests by its founder Sargon of Akkad. Under Sargon and his successors, the Akkadian language was imposed on neighboring conquered states such as Elam. Akkad is sometimes regarded as the first empire in history, though there are earlier Sumerian claimants, the Bible refers to Akkad in Genesis 10,10, which states that the beginning of Nimrods kingdom was in the land of Akkad. Nimrod is a Hebrew name not attested in Mesopotamians sources, many have pointed out similarities with the legend of Gilgamesh who founded Uruk, which is said to be the city Nimrod came to power. Today, some 7,000 texts from the Akkadian period alone are known, many later texts from the successor states of Assyria and Babylonia also deal with the Akkadian Empire. Understanding of the Akkadian Empire continues to be hampered by the fact that its capital Akkad has not yet been located, likewise, material that is thought to be Akkadian continues to be in use into the Ur III period. Many of the recent insights on the Akkadian Empire have come from excavations in the Upper Khabur area in modern northeastern Syria which was to become a part of Assyria after the fall of Akkad. For example, excavations at Tell Mozan brought to light a sealing of Taram-Agade, an unknown daughter of Naram-Sin. The excavators at nearby Tell Leilan have used the results from their investigations to argue that the Akkadian Empire came to an end due to a sudden drought, the so-called 4.2 kiloyear event. The impact of this event on Mesopotamia in general, and on the Akkadian Empire in particular. The Akkadian Period is contemporary with, EB IV, EB IVA and EJ IV, the absolute dates of their reigns are approximate. The Akkadian Empire takes its name from the region and city of Akkad, although the city of Akkad has not yet been identified on the ground, it is known from various textual sources. Among these is at least one text predating the reign of Sargon, together with the fact that the name Akkad is of non-Akkadian origin, this suggests that the city of Akkad may have already been occupied in pre-Sargonic times. Sargon of Akkad defeated and captured Lugal-Zage-Si in the Battle of Uruk, the earliest records in the Akkadian language date to the time of Sargon. Sargon was claimed to be the son of Laibum or Itti-Bel, a humble gardener, One legend related of Sargon in Assyrian times says that My mother was a changeling, my father I knew not
4.
Babylonia
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Babylonia was an ancient Akkadian-speaking state and cultural area based in central-southern Mesopotamia. A small Amorite-ruled state emerged in 1894 BC, which contained at this time the city of Babylon. Babylon greatly expanded during the reign of Hammurabi in the first half of the 18th century BC, during the reign of Hammurabi and afterwards, Babylonia was called Māt Akkadī the country of Akkad in the Akkadian language. It was often involved in rivalry with its older fellow Akkadian-speaking state of Assyria in northern Mesopotamia and it retained the Sumerian language for religious use, but by the time Babylon was founded, this was no longer a spoken language, having been wholly subsumed by Akkadian. The earliest mention of the city of Babylon can be found in a tablet from the reign of Sargon of Akkad. During the 3rd millennium BC, a cultural symbiosis occurred between Sumerian and Akkadian-speakers, which included widespread bilingualism. The influence of Sumerian on Akkadian and vice versa is evident in all areas, from lexical borrowing on a scale, to syntactic, morphological. This has prompted scholars to refer to Sumerian and Akkadian in the millennium as a sprachbund. Traditionally, the religious center of all Mesopotamia was the city of Nippur. The empire eventually disintegrated due to decline, climate change and civil war. Sumer rose up again with the Third Dynasty of Ur in the late 22nd century BC and they also seem to have gained ascendancy over most of the territory of the Akkadian kings of Assyria in northern Mesopotamia for a time. The states of the south were unable to stem the Amorite advance, King Ilu-shuma of the Old Assyrian Empire in a known inscription describes his exploits to the south as follows, The freedom of the Akkadians and their children I established. I established their freedom from the border of the marshes and Ur and Nippur, Awal, past scholars originally extrapolated from this text that it means he defeated the invading Amorites to the south, but there is no explicit record of that. More recently, the text has been taken to mean that Asshur supplied the south with copper from Anatolia and these policies were continued by his successors Erishum I and Ikunum. During the first centuries of what is called the Amorite period and his reign was concerned with establishing statehood amongst a sea of other minor city states and kingdoms in the region. However Sumuabum appears never to have bothered to give himself the title of King of Babylon, suggesting that Babylon itself was only a minor town or city. He was followed by Sumu-la-El, Sabium, Apil-Sin, each of whom ruled in the same manner as Sumuabum. Sin-Muballit was the first of these Amorite rulers to be regarded officially as a king of Babylon, the Elamites occupied huge swathes of southern Mesopotamia, and the early Amorite rulers were largely held in vassalage to Elam
5.
Assyria
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Assyria was a major Mesopotamian East Semitic-speaking kingdom and empire of the ancient Near East and the Levant. Centered on the Tigris in Upper Mesopotamia, the Assyrians came to rule powerful empires at several times. Assyria is named after its capital, the ancient city of Aššur. In the 25th and 24th centuries BC, Assyrian kings were pastoral leaders, Assyria can also refer to the geographic region or heartland where Assyria, its empires and the Assyrian people were centered. The indigenous modern Eastern Aramaic-speaking Assyrian Christian ethnic minority in northern Iraq, north east Syria, southeast Turkey, in prehistoric times, the region that was to become known as Assyria was home to a Neanderthal culture such as has been found at the Shanidar Cave. The earliest Neolithic sites in Assyria were the Jarmo culture c.7100 BC and Tell Hassuna, during the 3rd millennium BC, a very intimate cultural symbiosis developed between the Sumerians and the Akkadians throughout Mesopotamia, which included widespread bilingualism. The influence of Sumerian on Akkadian, and vice versa, is evident in all areas, from lexical borrowing on a scale, to syntactic, morphological. This has prompted scholars to refer to Sumerian and Akkadian in the third millennium BC as a sprachbund and it is highly likely that the city was named in honour of its patron Assyrian god with the same name. The city of Aššur, together with a number of other Assyrian cities, however it is likely that they were initially Sumerian-dominated administrative centres. In the late 26th century BC, Eannatum of Lagash, then the dominant Sumerian ruler in Mesopotamia, similarly, in c. the early 25th century BC, Lugal-Anne-Mundu the king of the Sumerian state of Adab lists Subartu as paying tribute to him. Of the early history of the kingdom of Assyria, little is known, in the Assyrian King List, the earliest king recorded was Tudiya. According to Georges Roux he would have lived in the mid 25th century BC, Tudiya was succeeded on the list by Adamu, the first known reference to the Semitic name Adam and then a further thirteen rulers. The earliest kings, such as Tudiya, who are recorded as kings who lived in tents, were independent semi-nomadic pastoralist rulers and these kings at some point became fully urbanised and founded the city state of Ashur in the mid 21st century BC. During the Akkadian Empire, the Assyrians, like all the Mesopotamian Semites, became subject to the dynasty of the city state of Akkad, the Akkadian Empire founded by Sargon the Great claimed to encompass the surrounding four quarters. Assyrian rulers were subject to Sargon and his successors, and the city of Ashur became an administrative center of the Empire. On those tablets, Assyrian traders in Burushanda implored the help of their ruler, Sargon the Great, the name Hatti itself even appears in later accounts of his grandson, Naram-Sin, campaigning in Anatolia. Assyrian and Akkadian traders spread the use of writing in the form of the Mesopotamian cuneiform script to Asia Minor, the Akkadian Empire was destroyed by economic decline and internal civil war, followed by attacks from barbarian Gutian people in 2154 BC. The rulers of Assyria during the period between c.2154 BC and 2112 BC once again fully independent, as the Gutians are only known to have administered southern Mesopotamia
6.
Persian Empire
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Persian Empire refers to any of a series of imperial dynasties centered in Persia. The first of these was the Achaemenid Empire established by Cyrus the Great in 550 BC with the conquest of Median, Lydian and Babylonian empires and it covered much of the Ancient world when it was conquered by Alexander the Great. Several later dynasties claimed to be heirs of the Achaemenids, Persia was then ruled by the Parthian Empire which supplanted the Hellenistic Seleucid Empire, and then by the Sassanian Empire which ruled up until mid 7th century. It is important to note that many of these empires referred to themselves as Persian, they were often ethnically ruled by Medes, Babylonians. Iranian dynastic history was interrupted by the Arab Muslim conquest of Persia in 651 AD, establishing the even larger Islamic Caliphate, the main religion of ancient Persia was the native Zoroastrianism, but after the seventh century, it was replaced by Islam. Since 1979 and the downfall of the Pahlavi dynasty during Iranian Revolution, Persia has had a Shiah theocratic government
7.
Clay tablet
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In the Ancient Near East, clay tablets were used as a writing medium, especially for writing in cuneiform, throughout the Bronze Age and well into the Iron Age. Cuneiform characters were imprinted on a wet clay tablet with a stylus often made of reed, once written upon, many tablets were dried in the sun or air, remaining fragile. Later, these clay tablets could be soaked in water. Other tablets, once written, were fired in hot kilns making them hard, collections of these clay documents made up the very first archives. They were at the root of first libraries, tens of thousands of written tablets, including many fragments, have been found in the Middle East. In the Minoan/Mycenaean civilizations, writing has not been observed for any use other than accounting, tablets serving as labels, with the impression of the side of a wicker basket on the back, and tablets showing yearly summaries, suggest a sophisticated accounting system. In this cultural region the tablets were never fired deliberately, as the clay was recycled on an annual basis, however, some of the tablets were fired as a result of uncontrolled fires in the buildings where they were stored. The rest are still tablets of unfired clay, and extremely fragile, some scholars are investigating the possibility of firing them now. Writing was not as we see it today, in that way, recorded accounts of amounts of goods involved in a transaction could be made. The clay tablet was thus being used by scribes to take down the events of what was happening during his time, Sumerians used what are known as pictograms. Pictograms are symbols that express a concept, a logogram. Early writing also began in Ancient Egypt using hieroglyphs, early hieroglyphs and some of the modern Chinese characters are other examples of pictographs. The Sumerians later shifted their writing to Cuneiform, defined as Wedge writing in Latin, clay tablets took the forms of myths, fables, essays, hymns, proverbs, epic poetry, laws, plants, and animals. What these clay tablets allowed was for individuals to record who, an example of these great stories was The Story of Gilgamesh. This story would tell of the flood that destroyed Sumer. Remedies and recipes that would have been unknown were then possible because of the clay tablet, some of the recipes were stew, which was made with goat, garlic, onions and sour milk. Communication grew faster as now there was a way to get messages across just like mail, important and private clay tablets were coated with an extra layer of clay, that no one else would read it. This means of communicating was used for over 3000 years in fifteen different languages, Sumerians, Babylonians and Eblaites all had their own clay tablet libraries
8.
Cookbook
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A cookbook is a kitchen reference publication that typically contains a collection of recipes. Modern versions may also include illustrations and advice on purchasing quality ingredients or making substitutions. Cookbooks can also cover a variety of topics, including cooking techniques for the home, recipes and commentary from famous chefs, institutional kitchen manuals. Ancient Mesopotamian recipes have been found on three Akkadian tablets, dating to about 1700 BC, the earliest collection of recipes that has survived in Europe is De re coquinaria, written in Latin. An early version was first compiled sometime in the 1st century and has often attributed to the Roman gourmet Marcus Gavius Apicius. An Apicius came to designate a book of recipes, the current text appears to have been compiled in the late 4th or early 5th century, the first print edition is from 1483. It records a mix of ancient Greek and Roman cuisine, but with few details on preparation, an abbreviated epitome entitled Apici Excerpta a Vinidario, a pocket Apicius by Vinidarius, an illustrious man, was made in the Carolingian era. In spite of its date it represents the last manifestation of the cuisine of Antiquity. The earliest cookbooks known in Arabic are those of al-Warraq and al-Baghdadi, chinese recipe books are known from the Tang dynasty, but most were lost. One of the earliest surviving Chinese-language cookbooks is Hu Sihuis Yinshan Zhengyao, Hu Sihui, Buyantu Khans dietitian and therapist, recorded a Chinese-inflected Central Asian cuisine as eaten by the Yuan court, his recipes were adapted from foods eaten all over the Mongol Empire. Eumsik dimibang, written around 1670, is the oldest Korean cookbook, after a long interval, the first recipe books to be compiled in Europe since Late Antiquity started to appear in the late thirteenth century. About a hundred are known to have survived, some fragmentary, low and High German manuscripts are among the most numerous. Among them is Daz buch von guter spise written c.1350 in Würzberg and Kuchenmeysterey, recipes originating in England include the earliest recorded recipe for ravioli and Forme of Cury, a late 14th-century manuscript written by chefs of Richard II of England. With the advent of the press in the 16th and 17th centuries, numerous books were written on how to manage households. In Holland and England competition grew between the families as to who could prepare the most lavish banquet. By the 1660s, cookery had progressed to an art form, many of them published their own books detailing their recipes in competition with their rivals. Many of these books have now been translated and are available online, by the 19th century, the Victorian preoccupation for domestic respectability brought about the emergence of cookery writing in its modern form. Although eclipsed in fame and regard by Isabella Beeton, the first modern writer and compiler of recipes for the home was Eliza Acton
9.
Mesopotamia
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In the Iron Age, it was controlled by the Neo-Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian Empires. The Sumerians and Akkadians dominated Mesopotamia from the beginning of history to the fall of Babylon in 539 BC. It fell to Alexander the Great in 332 BC, and after his death, around 150 BC, Mesopotamia was under the control of the Parthian Empire. Mesopotamia became a battleground between the Romans and Parthians, with parts of Mesopotamia coming under ephemeral Roman control. In AD226, eastern part of it fell to the Sassanid Persians, division of Mesopotamia between Roman and Sassanid Empires lasted until the 7th century Muslim conquest of Persia of the Sasanian Empire and Muslim conquest of the Levant from Byzantines. A number of primarily neo-Assyrian and Christian native Mesopotamian states existed between the 1st century BC and 3rd century AD, including Adiabene, Osroene, and Hatra, Mesopotamia is the site of the earliest developments of the Neolithic Revolution from around 10,000 BC. The regional toponym Mesopotamia comes from the ancient Greek root words μέσος middle and ποταμός river and it is used throughout the Greek Septuagint to translate the Hebrew equivalent Naharaim. In the Anabasis, Mesopotamia was used to designate the land east of the Euphrates in north Syria, the Aramaic term biritum/birit narim corresponded to a similar geographical concept. The neighbouring steppes to the west of the Euphrates and the part of the Zagros Mountains are also often included under the wider term Mesopotamia. A further distinction is made between Northern or Upper Mesopotamia and Southern or Lower Mesopotamia. Upper Mesopotamia, also known as the Jazira, is the area between the Euphrates and the Tigris from their sources down to Baghdad, Lower Mesopotamia is the area from Baghdad to the Persian Gulf and includes Kuwait and parts of western Iran. In modern academic usage, the term Mesopotamia often also has a chronological connotation and it is usually used to designate the area until the Muslim conquests, with names like Syria, Jazirah, and Iraq being used to describe the region after that date. It has been argued that these later euphemisms are Eurocentric terms attributed to the region in the midst of various 19th-century Western encroachments, Mesopotamia encompasses the land between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, both of which have their headwaters in the Armenian Highlands. Both rivers are fed by tributaries, and the entire river system drains a vast mountainous region. Overland routes in Mesopotamia usually follow the Euphrates because the banks of the Tigris are frequently steep and difficult. The climate of the region is semi-arid with a vast desert expanse in the north which gives way to a 15,000 square kilometres region of marshes, lagoons, mud flats, in the extreme south, the Euphrates and the Tigris unite and empty into the Persian Gulf. In the marshlands to the south of the area, a complex water-borne fishing culture has existed since prehistoric times, periodic breakdowns in the cultural system have occurred for a number of reasons. Alternatively, military vulnerability to invasion from marginal hill tribes or nomadic pastoralists has led to periods of trade collapse and these trends have continued to the present day in Iraq
10.
Culinary art
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Culinary arts, in which culinary means related to cooking, is the art of the preparation, cooking and presentation of food, usually in the form of meals. Table manners are sometimes referred to as a culinary art, culinarians are required to have knowledge of food science, nutrition and diet and are responsible for preparing meals that are as pleasing to the eye as well as to the palate. After restaurants, their places of work include delicatessens and relatively large institutions such as hotels and hospitals. Below is a list of the variety of culinary arts occupations. Consulting and Design Specialists – Work with restaurant owners in developing menus, the layout and design of dining rooms, restaurant management – Manage a restaurant, cafeteria, hotel dining area, etc. Food and Beverage Controller – Purchase and source ingredients in large hotels as well as manage the stores, entrepreneurship – Deepen and invest in businesses, such as bakeries, restaurants, or specialty foods. Food and Beverage Managers – Manage all food and beverage outlets in hotels, Food Stylists and Photographers – Work with magazines, books, catalogs, and other media to make food visually appealing. Food Writers and Food Critics – Communicate with the public on food trends, chefs and restaurants through newspapers, magazines, blogs, notables in this field include Julia Child, Craig Claiborne, and James Beard. Research and Development Kitchens – Develop new products for manufacturers and may also work in test kitchens for publications, restaurant chains, grocery chains. Sales – Introduce chefs and business owners to new products and equipment relevant to food production, instructors – Teach aspects of culinary arts in high school, vocational schools, colleges, recreational programs, and for specialty businesses. Training in culinary arts is possible in most countries around the world, with institutions government funded, privately funded or commercial. Web.17 Sept.2013 History of Culinary Arts,17 Sept.2013 The Food Timeline Beal, Eileen. Choosing a career in the restaurant industry, careers and jobs in the restaurant business, jobs, management, ownership. U. S. Department of Labor – Food Service Manager Information. Culinary Art - The Culinary Institute of Bologna – Chefs, Head Cooks, and Food Preparation Chef Training Classes Information. ]U. S Department of Labor – Chefs, Head Cooks, and Food Preparation and Serving Supervisors Information
11.
Islamic Golden Age
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This period is traditionally said to have ended with the collapse of the Abbasid caliphate due to Mongol invasions and the Sack of Baghdad in 1258 AD. A few contemporary scholars place the end of the Islamic Golden Age as late as the end of 15th to 16th centuries, the metaphor of a golden age began to be applied in 19th-century literature about Islamic history, in the context of the western aesthetic fashion known as Orientalism. There is no definition of term, and depending on whether it is used with a focus on cultural or on military achievement. During the early 20th century, the term was used only occasionally, the Muslim government heavily patronized scholars. The money spent on the Translation Movement for some translations is estimated to be equivalent to twice the annual research budget of the United Kingdom’s Medical Research Council. The best scholars and notable translators, such as Hunayn ibn Ishaq, had salaries that are estimated to be the equivalent of professional athletes today, the House of Wisdom was a library established in Abbasid-era Baghdad, Iraq by Caliph al-Mansur. During this period, the Muslims showed a strong interest in assimilating the knowledge of the civilizations that had been conquered. They also excelled in fields, in particular philosophy, science. For a long period of time the personal physicians of the Abbasid Caliphs were often Assyrian Christians, among the most prominent Christian families to serve as physicians to the caliphs were the Bukhtishu dynasty. Throughout the 4th to 7th centuries, Christian scholarly work in the Greek, the House of Wisdom was founded in Baghdad in 825, modelled after the Academy of Gondishapur. It was led by Christian physician Hunayn ibn Ishaq, with the support of Byzantine medicine, many of the most important philosophical and scientific works of the ancient world were translated, including the work of Galen, Hippocrates, Plato, Aristotle, Ptolemy and Archimedes. Many scholars of the House of Wisdom were of Christian background, the use of paper spread from China into Muslim regions in the eighth century, arriving in Al-Andalus on the Iberian peninsula, present-day Spain in the 10th century. It was easier to manufacture than parchment, less likely to crack than papyrus, Islamic paper makers devised assembly-line methods of hand-copying manuscripts to turn out editions far larger than any available in Europe for centuries. It was from countries that the rest of the world learned to make paper from linen. Ibn Rushd and Ibn Sina played a role in saving the works of Aristotle, whose ideas came to dominate the non-religious thought of the Christian. Ibn Sina and other such as al-Kindi and al-Farabi combined Aristotelianism and Neoplatonism with other ideas introduced through Islam. Arabic philosophic literature was translated into Latin and Ladino, contributing to the development of modern European philosophy, during this period, non-Muslims were allowed to flourish relative to treatment of religious minorities in the Christian Byzantine Empire. The Jewish philosopher Moses Maimonides, who lived in Andalusia, is an example, in epistemology, Ibn Tufail wrote the novel Hayy ibn Yaqdhan and in response Ibn al-Nafis wrote the novel Theologus Autodidactus
12.
Baghdad
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Baghdad is the capital of the Republic of Iraq. The population of Baghdad, as of 2016, is approximately 8,765,000 making it the largest city in Iraq, the second largest city in the Arab world, and the second largest city in Western Asia. Located along the Tigris River, the city was founded in the 8th century, within a short time of its inception, Baghdad evolved into a significant cultural, commercial, and intellectual center for the Islamic world. This, in addition to housing several key institutions, garnered the city a worldwide reputation as the Centre of Learning. Throughout the High Middle Ages, Baghdad was considered to be the largest city in the world with a population of 1,200,000 people. The city was destroyed at the hands of the Mongol Empire in 1258, resulting in a decline that would linger through many centuries due to frequent plagues. With the recognition of Iraq as an independent state in 1938, in contemporary times, the city has often faced severe infrastructural damage, most recently due to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and the subsequent Iraq War that lasted until December 2011. In recent years, the city has been subjected to insurgency attacks. As of 2012, Baghdad was listed as one of the least hospitable places in the world to live, the site where the city of Baghdad developed has been populated for millennia. By the 8th century AD, several villages had developed there, including a Persian hamlet called Baghdad, the name is of Indo-European origin and a Middle Persian compound of Bagh god and dād given by, translating to Bestowed by God or Gods gift. In Old Persian the first element can be traced to boghu and is related to Slavic bog god, a similar term in Middle Persian is the name Mithradāt, known in English by its Hellenistic form Mithridates, meaning gift of Mithra. There are a number of locations in the wider region whose names are compounds of the word bagh, including Baghlan. The name of the town Baghdati in Georgia shares the same etymological origins, when the Abbasid caliph, al-Mansur, founded a completely new city for his capital, he chose the name Madinat al-Salaam or City of Peace. This was the name on coins, weights, and other official usage. By the 11th century, Baghdad became almost the exclusive name for the world-renowned metropolis, after the fall of the Umayyads, the first Muslim dynasty, the victorious Abbasid rulers wanted their own capital whence they could rule. They chose a site north of the Sassanid capital of Ctesiphon, on 30 July 762, the caliph Al-Mansur commissioned the construction of the city, mansur believed that Baghdad was the perfect city to be the capital of the Islamic empire under the Abbasids. Mansur loved the site so much he is quoted saying, This is indeed the city that I am to found, where I am to live, and where my descendants will reign afterward. The citys growth was helped by its excellent location, based on at least two factors, it had control over strategic and trading routes along the Tigris, the abundance of water in a dry climate
13.
Abbasid Caliphate
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The Abbasid Caliphate was the third of the Islamic caliphates to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. The Abbasid dynasty descended from Muhammads youngest uncle, Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib and they ruled as caliphs, for most of their period from their capital in Baghdad in modern-day Iraq, after assuming authority over the Muslim empire from the Umayyads in 750 CE. The Abbasid caliphate first centered its government in Kufa, but in 762 the caliph Al-Mansur founded the city of Baghdad, the political power of the caliphs largely ended with the rise of the Buyids and the Seljuq Turks. Although Abbasid leadership over the vast Islamic empire was reduced to a ceremonial religious function. The capital city of Baghdad became a center of science, culture, philosophy and this period of cultural fruition ended in 1258 with the sack of Baghdad by the Mongols under Hulagu Khan. The Abbasid line of rulers, and Muslim culture in general, though lacking in political power, the dynasty continued to claim authority in religious matters until after the Ottoman conquest of Egypt. The Abbasid caliphs were Arabs descended from Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib, one of the youngest uncles of Muhammad, the Abbasids claimed to be the true successors of Prophet Muhammad in replacing the Umayyad descendants of Banu Umayya by virtue of their closer bloodline to Muhammad. The Abbasids also distinguished themselves from the Umayyads by attacking their moral character, according to Ira Lapidus, The Abbasid revolt was supported largely by Arabs, mainly the aggrieved settlers of Marw with the addition of the Yemeni faction and their Mawali. The Abbasids also appealed to non-Arab Muslims, known as mawali, Muhammad ibn Ali, a great-grandson of Abbas, began to campaign for the return of power to the family of Prophet Muhammad, the Hashimites, in Persia during the reign of Umar II. During the reign of Marwan II, this culminated in the rebellion of Ibrahim the Imam. On 9 June 747, Abu Muslim successfully initiated a revolt against Umayyad rule. Close to 10,000 soldiers were under Abu Muslims command when the hostilities began in Merv. General Qahtaba followed the fleeing governor Nasr ibn Sayyar west defeating the Umayyads at the Battle of Nishapur, the Battle of Gorgan, after this loss, Marwan fled to Egypt, where he was subsequently assassinated. The remainder of his family, barring one male, were also eliminated, immediately after their victory, As-Saffah sent his forces to Central Asia, where his forces fought against Tang expansion during the Battle of Talas. Barmakids, who were instrumental in building Baghdad, introduced the worlds first recorded paper mill in Baghdad, As-Saffah focused on putting down numerous rebellions in Syria and Mesopotamia. The Byzantines conducted raids during these early distractions, the first change the Abbasids, under Al-Mansur, made was to move the empires capital from Damascus, in Syria, to Baghdad in Iraq. Baghdad was established on the Tigris River in 762, a new position, that of the vizier, was also established to delegate central authority, and even greater authority was delegated to local emirs. During Al-Mansurs time control of Al-Andalus was lost, and the Shiites revolted and were defeated a year later at the Battle of Bakhamra, the Abbasids had depended heavily on the support of Persians in their overthrow of the Umayyads
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Iran
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Iran, also known as Persia, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, is a sovereign state in Western Asia. Comprising a land area of 1,648,195 km2, it is the second-largest country in the Middle East, with 82.8 million inhabitants, Iran is the worlds 17th-most-populous country. It is the country with both a Caspian Sea and an Indian Ocean coastline. The countrys central location in Eurasia and Western Asia, and its proximity to the Strait of Hormuz, Tehran is the countrys capital and largest city, as well as its leading economic and cultural center. Iran is the site of to one of the worlds oldest civilizations, the area was first unified by the Iranian Medes in 625 BC, who became the dominant cultural and political power in the region. The empire collapsed in 330 BC following the conquests of Alexander the Great, under the Sassanid Dynasty, Iran again became one of the leading powers in the world for the next four centuries. Beginning in 633 AD, Arabs conquered Iran and largely displaced the indigenous faiths of Manichaeism and Zoroastrianism by Islam, Iran became a major contributor to the Islamic Golden Age that followed, producing many influential scientists, scholars, artists, and thinkers. During the 18th century, Iran reached its greatest territorial extent since the Sassanid Empire, through the late 18th and 19th centuries, a series of conflicts with Russia led to significant territorial losses and the erosion of sovereignty. Popular unrest culminated in the Persian Constitutional Revolution of 1906, which established a monarchy and the countrys first legislative body. Following a coup instigated by the U. K. Growing dissent against foreign influence and political repression led to the 1979 Revolution, Irans rich cultural legacy is reflected in part by its 21 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, the third-largest number in Asia and 11th-largest in the world. Iran is a member of the UN, ECO, NAM, OIC. Its political system is based on the 1979 Constitution which combines elements of a democracy with a theocracy governed by Islamic jurists under the concept of a Supreme Leadership. A multicultural country comprising numerous ethnic and linguistic groups, most inhabitants are Shia Muslims, the largest ethnic groups in Iran are the Persians, Azeris, Kurds and Lurs. Historically, Iran has been referred to as Persia by the West, due mainly to the writings of Greek historians who called Iran Persis, meaning land of the Persians. As the most extensive interactions the Ancient Greeks had with any outsider was with the Persians, however, Persis was originally referred to a region settled by Persians in the west shore of Lake Urmia, in the 9th century BC. The settlement was then shifted to the end of the Zagros Mountains. In 1935, Reza Shah requested the international community to refer to the country by its native name, opposition to the name change led to the reversal of the decision, and Professor Ehsan Yarshater, editor of Encyclopædia Iranica, propagated a move to use Persia and Iran interchangeably
15.
Turkey
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Turkey, officially the Republic of Turkey, is a transcontinental country in Eurasia, mainly in Anatolia in Western Asia, with a smaller portion on the Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. Turkey is a democratic, secular, unitary, parliamentary republic with a cultural heritage. The country is encircled by seas on three sides, the Aegean Sea is to the west, the Black Sea to the north, and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. The Bosphorus, the Sea of Marmara, and the Dardanelles, Ankara is the capital while Istanbul is the countrys largest city and main cultural and commercial centre. Approximately 70-80% of the countrys citizens identify themselves as ethnic Turks, other ethnic groups include legally recognised and unrecognised minorities. Kurds are the largest ethnic minority group, making up approximately 20% of the population, the area of Turkey has been inhabited since the Paleolithic by various ancient Anatolian civilisations, as well as Assyrians, Greeks, Thracians, Phrygians, Urartians and Armenians. After Alexander the Greats conquest, the area was Hellenized, a process continued under the Roman Empire. The Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm ruled Anatolia until the Mongol invasion in 1243, the empire reached the peak of its power in the 16th century, especially during the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent. During the war, the Ottoman government committed genocides against its Armenian, Assyrian, following the war, the conglomeration of territories and peoples that formerly comprised the Ottoman Empire was partitioned into several new states. Turkey is a member of the UN, an early member of NATO. Turkeys growing economy and diplomatic initiatives have led to its recognition as a regional power while her location has given it geopolitical, the name of Turkey is based on the ethnonym Türk. The first recorded use of the term Türk or Türük as an autonym is contained in the Old Turkic inscriptions of the Göktürks of Central Asia, the English name Turkey first appeared in the late 14th century and is derived from Medieval Latin Turchia. Similarly, the medieval Khazar Empire, a Turkic state on the shores of the Black. The medieval Arabs referred to the Mamluk Sultanate as al-Dawla al-Turkiyya, the Ottoman Empire was sometimes referred to as Turkey or the Turkish Empire among its European contemporaries. The Anatolian peninsula, comprising most of modern Turkey, is one of the oldest permanently settled regions in the world, various ancient Anatolian populations have lived in Anatolia, from at least the Neolithic period until the Hellenistic period. Many of these peoples spoke the Anatolian languages, a branch of the larger Indo-European language family, in fact, given the antiquity of the Indo-European Hittite and Luwian languages, some scholars have proposed Anatolia as the hypothetical centre from which the Indo-European languages radiated. The European part of Turkey, called Eastern Thrace, has also been inhabited since at least forty years ago. It is the largest and best-preserved Neolithic site found to date, the settlement of Troy started in the Neolithic Age and continued into the Iron Age
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Syria region
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The historic region of Syria is an area located east of the Mediterranean sea. The oldest attestation of the name Syria is from the 8th century BC in an inscription in Hieroglyphic Luwian and Phoenician. In this inscription the Luwian word Sura/i was translated to Phoenician ʔšr Assyria, for Herodotus in the 5th century BC, Syria extended as far north as the Halys river and as far south as Arabia and Egypt. For Pliny the Elder and Pomponius Mela, Syria covered the entire Fertile Crescent and this late definition is equivalent to the region known in Classical Arabic by the name ash-Shām الشام /ʔaʃ-ʃaːm/, which means the north. After World War I, the name Syria was applied to the French Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon, the area was passed to French and British Mandates following World War I and divided into Greater Lebanon, various Syrian-mandate states, Mandatory Palestine and Transjordan. The Syrian-mandate states were unified as the State of Syria. Throughout this period, pan-Syrian nationalists advocated for the creation of a Greater Syria, the name Syria derives from the ancient Greek name for Syrians, Σύριοι Syrioi, which the Greeks applied without distinction to various Near Eastern peoples living under the rule of Assyria. Modern scholarship confirms the Greek word traces back to the cognate Ἀσσυρία, Assyria, the classical Arabic pronunciation of Syria is Sūriyya. This name was not widely used among Muslims before about 1870, according to the Syrian Orthodox Church, Syrian used to mean Christian in early Christianity. In English, Syrian historically meant a Syrian Christian, following the declaration of Syria in 1936, the term Syrian became to designate citizens of that state regardless of ethnicity. The adjective Syriac has come into use since as a demonym to avoid the ambiguity of Syrian. To some opinions, the origin of the Hellenistic term Syria is bound in the etymology of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, Syria in this wider sense could correspond to Greater Assyria and include all of the Levant and Mesopotamia. Currently, the Arabic term Suriyya refers to the state of Syria. The term etymologically means land of the hand, referring to the fact that for someone in the Hejaz facing east. Sham comes from the Arabic consonantal root shin-hamza-mim ش ء م, as seen in alternative Arabic spellings such as شأم, there is no connection with the name of Shem son of Noah, as is sometimes assumed. Herodotus uses Συρία to refer to the stretch of land from the Halys river, including Cappadocia in todays Turkey to the Mount Casius, which Herodotus says is located just south of Lake Serbonis. According to Herodotus various remarks in different locations, he describes Syria to include the stretch of Phoenician coastal line as well as cities such Cadytis. In Greek usage, Syria and Assyria were used almost interchangeably, various writers used the term to describe the entire Levant region during this period, the New Testament used the name in this sense on numerous occasions
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Meze
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Meze or mezze is a selection of small dishes served to accompany alcoholic drinks in the Near East, the Balkans, and parts of Central Asia. In Levantine, Caucasian, and Balkan cuisines, meze is served at the beginning of multi-course meals. The word is found in all the cuisines of the former Ottoman Empire, in Greece, Cyprus and the Balkans, mezé, mezés, or mezédhes are small dishes, hot or cold, spicy or savory. Popular meze dishes include, Mutabbal/Babaghanoush – eggplant mashed and mixed with seasonings, Hummus – a dip or spread made from cooked, mashed chickpeas Hummus with meat Falafel – a deep-fried ball or patty made from ground chickpeas, fava beans, or both. Tashi – Dip made from tahini, garlic, salt and lemon juice with chopped parsley garnish, souvlaki – Bite sized meat cubes, grilled on a skewer over charcoal. Stifado – Slow cooked beef stew with lots of onions, garlic, tomatoes, cinnamon, pepper, afelia – Diced pork marinated in wine with coriander seed, then stewed. Lountza – Smoked pork loin slice, usually grilled, dolma Vegetables like peppers, eggplants or courgettes stuffed with rice, chopped mint, lemon juice, pepper, minced meat. Sarma – Grape vine leaves, stuffed with rice, chopped mint, lemon juice, pepper, yogurt Tzatziki – Dip made from plain yogurt, chopped cucumber with finely chopped garlic and mint leaf. Tarama – a fish roe dip based on cured carp fish roe, mashed potatoes, in the traditional Istanbul variety of this dish, a substantial part of the roe must remain intact. Labneh – strained youghurt which tastes similar to cream or sour cream only more tart, there are vegetarian, meat or fish mezes. Groups of dishes arrive at the table about 4 or 5 at a time, establishments will offer their own specialities, but the pattern remains the same. Naturally the dishes served will reflect the seasons, for example, in late autumn, snails will be prominent. As so much food is offered, it is not expected that every dish be finished, eating a Cypriot meze is a social event. In the Balkans, meze is very similar to Mediterranean antipasti in the sense that cured cold-cuts, cheese and salads are dominant ingredients, in southern Croatia, Herzegovina and Montenegro more mediterranean forms of cured meat like pršut and panceta and regional products like olives are common. Albanian-style meze platters typically include prosciutto ham, salami and brined cheese, in Bulgaria, popular mezes are lukanka, soujouk, sirene, and Shopska salad made with tomatoes, cucumbers, onion, roasted peppers and sirene. In Romania, mezelic means quick appetizer and includes Zacuscă, cheeses and salamis, meze is generally accompanied by the distilled drinks rakı, arak, ouzo, Aragh Sagi, rakia, mastika, or tsipouro. It may also be consumed with beer, wine and other alcoholic drinks, Cyprus Brandy is a favourite drink to accompany meze in Cyprus, although lager or wine are popular with some. The same dishes, served without alcoholic drinks, are termed muqabbilat in Arabic, in Bulgaria, meze is served primarily at consumption of wine but also as an appetizer for rakia and mastika
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Kebab
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Kebab are various Middle Eastern dishes originally based on grilled meat, and now with many variants. Two of the best-known kebab dishes are shish kebab and doner kebab, also known as shish kebab or sometimes shashlik, kebabs are customarily prepared in homes and restaurants, and are usually cooked on a grill or barbeque. This is different from its use in the Levant, where shish is the word for skewer, in Germany, the highly popular sandwich, introduced by Turkish immigrants, is called a döner, though Arab shops serve shawarma. In other countries in Europe and worldwide, the name used depends on the dish, although often cooked on a skewer, many types of kebab are not. The traditional meat for kebab is lamb, but depending on tastes and religious prohibitions, other meats may include beef, goat, chicken, fish, or, more rarely. The practice of cooking meat on a stick or skewer originates in prehistorical times, possibly as long as a million years ago, when early humans began cooking with fire. Dishes prepared in a way to kebab, with various cultural origins, include anticucho, espetada, satay, souvlaki, yakitori. Excavations in Santorini, Greece, unearthed stone sets of barbecue for skewers used before the 17th century BC, mycenaean Greeks used portable tray as grills. Homer in Ilad mentions pieces of meat roasted on spits, in Classical Greece, a small spit or skewer was known as ὀβελίσκος, and Aristophanes mentions such skewers being used to roast thrushes. The English word kebab comes from the Persian كَبَاب, partly through Urdu, Persian, according to Sevan Nişanyan, an etymologist of the Turkish language, the word kebab is derived from the Persian word kabab meaning fry. The word was first mentioned in a Turkish script of Kyssa-i Yusuf in 1377, however, he emphasizes that the word has the equivalent meaning of frying/burning with kabābu in the old Akkadian language, and kbabā/כבבא in Aramaic. The American Heritage Dictionary also gives a probable East Semitic root origin with the meaning of burn, char, or roast, from the Aramaic and these words point to an origin in the prehistoric Proto-Afroasiatic language, *kab-, to burn or roast. Tradition has it that the dish was invented by soldiers who used their swords to grill meat over open-field fires. Persian kebab was served in the houses during various Islamic Empires. The Afghan variant of the kebab is the kabob, Kebabs in Armenia are prepared of ground meat spiced with pepper, parsley and other herbs, and roasted on skewers. In the Republic of Azerbaijan, the varieties include tika kabab, lyula kabab, tas kababy. The meat for tika kabab is sometimes prepared in basdirma and then goes onto the ramrods and it may be served, wrapped in lavash, with sauce-like pomegranate addon and other condiments. In Bulgaria, the word кебап is a term for meat stews with few or no vegetables
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Shawarma
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Shawarma or Shawurma is a Levantine meat preparation, where lamb, chicken, turkey, beef, veal, buffalo meat, or mixed meats are placed on a spit, and may be grilled for as long as a day. Shavings are cut off the block of meat for serving, Shawarma can be served on a plate, or as a sandwich or wrap. Shawarma is usually eaten with tabbouleh, fattoush, taboon bread, tomato, toppings include tahini, hummus, pickled turnips, and amba. Similar dishes in the region include Turkish döner kebabs and Greek gyros, Shawarma is an Arabic rendering of Turkish çevirme turning, in reference to the rotisserie-cooked nature of the meat, which turns around an axis. Similar naming conventions apply to the Turkish döner and the Greek gyros, Shawarma is made by alternately stacking strips of fat and pieces of seasoned meat on a vertical spit. An onion, a tomato, or a lemon is sometimes placed at the top for decoration. The meat is roasted slowly on all sides as the spit rotates in front of, or over, gas or electric heat is used, formerly, there was a cage holding burning charcoal or wood. Some restaurants offer two or more selections, many have just one. The meat is shaved off the stack with a large knife, Shawarma is eaten as a fast food, made up into a sandwich wrap with pita or lavash together with vegetables and dressing. A variety of vegetables come with the shawarma which include, cucumber, onion, tomato, lettuce, eggplant, parsley, pickled turnips, pickles, rhubarb, cabbage or French fries. Dressings include, tahini, amba sauce, hummus, or those flavored with vinegar and spices such as cardamom, cinnamon, chicken shawarma is served with garlic mayonnaise, toumaia, pomegranate concentrate, or skhug. Levantine cuisine Arab cuisine Israeli cuisine Doner kebab Gyros Kati roll Shish taouk List of sandwiches Street food Tacos al Pastor Media related to Shawarma at Wikimedia Commons
20.
Doner kebab
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Döner kebab is a type of Turkish kebab, made of meat cooked on a vertical rotisserie. Similar dishes cooked on a vertical rotisserie are the Arab shawarma, Greek gyros, seasoned meat stacked in the shape of an inverted cone is turned slowly on the rotisserie, next to a vertical cooking element. The outer layer is sliced vertically into thin shavings as it cooks, since the early 1970s, the sandwich or wrap form has become popular around the world as a fast food dish sold by kebab shops, and is often called simply a kebab. The sandwich generally contains salad or vegetables, which may include tomato, lettuce, cabbage, onion with sumac, fresh or pickled cucumber, or chili, and various types of sauces. Before taking its form, as mentioned in Ottoman travel books of the 18th century. Grilling meat on horizontal skewers has an ancient history in the Eastern Mediterranean, since then, Hacı İskender has been considered the inventor of Turkish döner kebap, though he might have been preceded by Hamdi Usta from Kastamonu around 1830. With time, the took a different marinade, got leaner. It was not until a later, that döner kebab was introduced and popularized in Istanbul. His restaurant, first opened in 1945, was discovered by journalists and began serving döner and other kebab dishes to kings, prime ministers, film stars. It has been sold in form in Istanbul since at least the mid-1960s. The döner kebab, and its derivatives shawarma and gyros, served in a sandwich, the first doner kebab shop in London opened in 1966, while Greek-style gyros was already popular in Greece and New York City in 1971. In Germany the döner kebab was popularized by Turkish guest workers in the early 1970s with a center in Berlin, the English word kebab comes from the Arabic, كَبَاب, partly through Urdu, Persian and Turkish. It may refer to a number of different kebab dishes made with roasted or grilled meat, Döner is a Turkish word, from dönmek. It is sometimes spelled döner kebap, the Turkish spelling, in English, it may also be spelled doner, donar, donair or sometimes donner. In German, it is spelled Döner Kebab, which can also be spelled Doener Kebab if the ö character is not available, particularly in British English, a döner kebab sandwich may be referred to simply as a kebab. In Greece, it was originally called döner but later came to be known as gyros, from γύρος, the Arabic name شاورما derives from another Turkish word, çevirme, also meaning turning. Persians refer to it as kebab torki, there are many variations of döner in Turkey, Porsiyon Pilavüstü İskender Kebapçı İskender is trademarked by Yavuz İskenderoğlu, whose family still runs the restaurant in Bursa. Dürüm, wrapped in a thin lavaş that is also grilled after being rolled
21.
Bamia
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Bamia matbukha or bamia bi-lahm, often called simply bamia, is a Middle Eastern and Egyptian stew prepared using lamb, okra and tomatoes as primary ingredients. Additional ingredients used include tomato sauce, onion, garlic, cilantro, vegetable oil, cardamom, salt, in Egypt, sinew of lamb are typically used, which can endure long cooking times. Taaleya, an Egyptian garlic sauce, is used as an ingredient to add flavor to Bamia, the word bamia itself is simply the Arabic word for okra. In Turkey, bamia is an Anatolian stew that has a sweet and it is prepared using okra, lemon juice, olive oil, sugar, salt and pepper. Turkish bamia is sometimes served as a palate cleanser between food courses at ceremonial feasts
22.
Falafel
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Falafel is a deep-fried ball, doughnut or patty made from ground chickpeas, fava beans, or both. The falafel balls are topped with salads, pickled vegetables, hot sauce, Falafel balls may also be eaten alone as a snack or served as part of a meze. Falafel is a food eaten throughout the Middle East. The fritters are now found around the world as a replacement for meat, the word Falāfil is the plural of Filfil, meaning pepper. Thus in origin, falafel would be rollers, little balls, a Coptic Egyptian origin has recently been proposed via the unattested phrase *pha la phel, meaning of many beans. The Arabic word falāfil has been globalized into many other languages, in English, it is first attested in 1941. Falafel is known as taʿamiya in Egypt, the word falafel can refer to the fritters themselves or to sandwiches filled with them. The origin of falafel is unknown and controversial, a common theory is that the dish originated in Egypt, possibly eaten by Copts as a replacement for meat during Lent. As Alexandria is a city, it was possible to export the dish. The dish later migrated northwards to the Levant, where replaced the fava beans. It has been speculated that its history may go back to Pharaonic Egypt, Falafel grew to become a common form of street food or fast food in Egypt and the Middle East. The croquettes are regularly eaten as part of meze, during Ramadan, falafel balls are sometimes eaten as part of the iftar, the meal that breaks the daily fast after sunset. Falafel became so popular that McDonalds for a time served a McFalafel in its breakfast menu all over Egypt, Falafel is still popular with the Copts, who cook large volumes during religious holidays. Debates over the origin of falafel have sometimes devolved into political discussions about the relationship between Arabs and Israelis, in modern times, falafel has been considered a national dish of Egypt, Palestine, and of Israel. Resentment exists amongst many Palestinians for what they see as the appropriation of their dish by Israelis, additionally, the Lebanese Industrialists Association has raised assertions of copyright infringement against Israel concerning falafel. Falafel plays an role in Israeli cuisine and is widely considered to be the national dish of the country. While falafel is not a specifically Jewish dish, it was eaten by Mizrahi Jews in their countries of origin, later, it was adopted by early Jewish immigrants to Palestine. Due to its being entirely plant based, it is considered pareve under Jewish dietary laws, according to Jonathan Kis-Lev, falafel and hummus are often used as symbols for peace, as well as tools for bridging Israelis and Palestinians
23.
Amba (condiment)
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Amba is a tangy mango pickle condiment popular in Middle Eastern cuisine. Its name derives from the Sanskrit for mango and it is typically made of mangoes, vinegar, salt, mustard, turmeric, chili and fenugreek, similarly to savoury mango chutneys. The name amba seems to have derived from the Sanskrit word amra. Amba is frequently used in Iraqi cuisine, especially as a sauce to be added to fish dishes, falafel, kubbah, kebabs. Amba is popular in the Arabian Peninsula, sold in sealed jars or by kilo. Eaten with bread as part of nawashef type meals at breakfast or dinner, amba is popular in Israel, where it was introduced by Iraqi Jews in the 1950s and 1960s. It is often served as a dressing on sabikh and as a topping on falafel, meorav yerushalmi, kebab, salads. Similarly, Assyrians typically use amba along with falafel, too, amba is similar to the South Asian pickle achar. The principal differences are that amba has large pieces of mango rather than small cubes, amba is also mentioned in literary works, mainly memoirs. In his memoir Baghdad Yesterday Sasson Somekh dedicates a chapter to amba. He uses amba to tell the story of the Iraqi Jewish community that had satellite communities in India, in the same chapter Somekh references another Iraqi, who wrote a short story about amba. Khalid Qisthini, a columnist at Asharq al-Awsat, wrote an article on remembering the foods of Baghdad of the past. His article is titled “Talking about the food of amba and sammoon and he remembers that in his youth, school children would rush out of school to get sammoon with amba from the street vendor, who, if generous, would add a little more amba. Arab cuisine Assyrian cuisine Iraqi cuisine Israeli cuisine Middle Eastern cuisine
24.
Pita
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In many languages, the word pita refers not to flatbread, but to flaky pastries, see börek. The first known mention of Pita is in Aristophaness comedies, the first known mention of the word in English was in 1936. It was received into Levantine Arabic, other hypotheses trace the word back to the Classical Hebrew word patt פת. It is spelled like the Aramaic pittəṭā/pittā, from which it was received into Byzantine Greek, hypotheses also exist for Germanic or Illyrian intermediaries. The word has been borrowed by Turkish as pide, and appears in the Balkan languages as Serbo-Croatian pita, Romanian pită, Albanian pite, Bulgarian pitka or pita. In Arabic, the phrase خبز البيتا is sometimes used, other names are simply خبز khubz, in Egypt, it is called ʿaish or ʿaish baladi. Most pita are baked at high temperatures, causing the flattened rounds of dough to puff up dramatically, when removed from the oven, the layers of baked dough remain separated inside the deflated pita, which allows the bread to be opened to form a pocket. However, pita is sometimes baked without pockets and is called pocket-less pita, nowadays, modern commercial pita bread is prepared on advanced automatic lines. These lines have high production capacities, up to thousands per hour, Pita can be used to scoop sauces or dips, such as hummus or taramosalata, or to wrap kebabs, gyros, or falafel in the manner of sandwiches. It can also be cut and baked into crispy pita chips, in Greece, pita is a component of pita-souvlaki. These types of sandwiches involve the wrapping of souvlaki or gyros with tzatziki, tomatoes, onions, french fries, Pita is also the name of a type of pastry found throughout Greece, filled with a variety of ingredients. Some examples of these pies are Kolokythopita, Mizithropita, Melintzanopita, Tsouknidopita, Kremydopita, Kreatopita, Galatopita, Marathopita, Tyropita, Spanakopita, in Cyprus, pita is typically rounder, fluffier and baked on a cast iron skillet. It is used for souvlakia, sheftalia, halloumi with lountza, in Egyptian, Jordanian, Iraqi, Israeli, Lebanese, Palestinian, and Syrian cuisine, almost every savory dish can be eaten in or on a pita. Common fillings include falafel, lamb or chicken shawarma, kebab, omelettes such as shakshouka, hummus, and other mezes. The first type of pide is used to various styles of kebab, while the second is topped with cheese, ground meat, or other fresh or cured meats. Regional variations in the shape, baking technique, and toppings create distinctive styles for each region
25.
Kibbeh
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Kibbeh, is a Levantine dish made of bulgur, minced onions, and finely ground lean beef, lamb, goat, or camel meat with Middle Eastern spices. Other types of kibbeh may be shaped into balls or patties, kibbeh is considered to be the national dish of many Middle Eastern countries. Kibbeh is a dish in Middle Eastern cuisine. Mainly, it is found in Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Jordan, Egypt, Iraq, as well as Armenia, Iran, Israel, Cyprus, the word is derived from the Classical Arabic kubbah, which means ball. Various transliterations of the name are used in different countries, in English, kibbe and kibbeh and in Latin America, quibe, kibe, in Levantine cuisine, a variety of dishes made with bulghur and minced lamb are called kibbeh. The northern Syrian city of Aleppo is famous for having more than 17 different types. These include kibbeh prepared with sumac, yogurt, quince, lemon juice, pomegranate sauce, cherry sauce, and other varieties, such as the disk kibbeh, the plate kibbeh, one variety of kibbeh is kibbeh Raas or Nabulsi kubbeh in reference to the Palestinian city Nablus. It is a 7- to 15-cm-oblong bulghur shell shaped like an American football, stuffed with a filling of spiced, minced beef or lamb, british soldiers in the Middle East during the Second World War used to call these kibbeh Syrian torpedoes. Fried, torpedo-shaped kibbe have become popular in Haiti, the Dominican Republic, kubba Halab is an Iraqi version of kibbeh created with a rice crust and named after the largest city in Syria, Aleppo. Kubba Mosul, also Iraqi, is flat and round like a disc, kubbat Shorba is an Iraqi-Kurdish version prepared as a stew, commonly made with tomato sauce and spices. It is often served with arak and various salads, the Iraqi versions are part of the same versions eaten in Iran. Kibbeh bSsinniyeh or kibbeh bil sinieh is commonly made of a mixture of ground lamb or beef, bulghur, onion, mint. Normally, this consists of two layers of the meat/cracked wheat mixture baked with a ground meat/onion/pine nut mix in between. Extra butter/olive oil is drained off and ready to serve. Kubba Halab is an Iraqi version of kibbeh created with a rice crust and named after the largest city in Syria, kubba Mosul, also Iraqi, is flat and round like a disc. Kubbat Shorba is an Iraqi-Kurdish version prepared as a stew, commonly made with tomato sauce and it is often served with arak and various salads. The Iraqi versions are part of the same versions eaten in Iran, kibbeh is sometimes served with a tahini dip. Brazilians sometimes add shoyu, sometimes in addition to raw garlic, or Worcestershire or red pepper sauce
26.
Bulgur
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Bulgur is a cereal food made from the groats of several different wheat species, most often from durum wheat. Bulgur is a kind of dried cracked wheat and it is most common in European, Middle Eastern, and Indian cuisine. Bulgur for Armenian consumption is usually sold parboiled and dried, with only a small amount of the bran partially removed. Bulgur is recognized as a whole grain by the U. S. D. A. Bulgur is sometimes confused with cracked wheat, which is crushed wheat grain that has not been parboiled. Whole-grain, high-fiber bulgur and cracked wheat can be found in food stores, Middle Eastern specialty grocers. Bulgur is an ingredient in Armenian, Iraqi, Assyrian, Kurdish, Syrian, Israeli, Jordanian, Palestinian, Lebanese, Turkish, Middle Eastern. It has a light, nutty flavor, in Turkey, a distinction is made between fine-ground bulgur, called köftelik bulgur, and a coarser grind, called pilavlık bulgur. In the United States, bulgur is produced from wheat in four distinct grinds or sizes. The highest quality bulgur has particle sizes that are uniform thus allowing a more consistent cooking time and it is also known as Dalia in North India. Dalia is popular all over the regions of North India. It can be consumed as sweet dalia or regular dalia, Bulgur can be used in pilafs, soups, bakery goods, or as stuffing. In breads, it adds a whole grain component and it is a main ingredient in tabbouleh salad and kibbeh. Its high nutritional value makes it a substitute for rice or couscous. In Indian cuisine, bulgur or daliya is used as a cereal with milk, in the United States is often used as a side dish, much like pasta or rice. In meals, bulgur is often mistaken for rice because it can be prepared in a similar manner, a popular South American carnival food, bulgur is often prepared with flower pollen and tapioca syrup and fried in patties. In Turkey, bulgur is prepared as pilaf in chicken stock, with or without sauteed noodles, or cooked with tomatoes, onions and red pepper. The fine grind is used for making kısır, a bulgur salad similar to tabbouleh, prepared with tomato paste, fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, parsley, olive oil, and other salad ingredients to personal taste. Pomegranate molasses, which is more sour than sweet, is used in favor of lemon juice to add tartness
27.
Masgouf
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Semeç Masgûf, or simply masgûf, is a Mesopotamian dish consisting of seasoned, grilled carp, it is often considered the national dish of Iraq. Nonetheless, one can find masgûf all over Iraq, especially near the Tigris-Euphrates Basin, outside of Iraq, masgûf is more or less popular in the Jazīra as in the rural parts of Syria, especially in the regions bordering Iraq, such as in the Raqqa Governorate. It is also seen, at a scale, in the Jazīra areas located in Turkey, such as Nusaybin and Cizre. Masgûf is now found in Damascus due to a high number of Iraqis exiles living there since the 2003 invasion of Iraq. In the district of Jeremana alone, where most Iraqis live, more than ten masgûf restaurants, the fish is brought daily from the Syrian Euphrates to these restaurants, and is kept alive in a fishpond or a big aquarium until it is ordered. The fish is alive and weighed. It is clubbed to kill it, then split lengthwise down the belly, cleaned and it is then partially scaled, gutted and cut in two identical halves from the back while leaving the belly intact, opening the fish in the shape of a large, symmetrical circle. From there, the cook bastes the inside of the fish with a marinade of oil, rock salt, tamarind. The fish is then impaled on two sharp piles of wood, or placed in a big cast iron grill with a handle. The fish, together with the grill or the piles, is placed near the fire of the fire altar. Cooking typically takes one and three hours, until most of the fishs fat is burned off, time during which the guests will pick at their mezes. When the fish is cooked and crispy on the outsides, it is typically laid on a large tray garnished with lime, slices of onion. Sometimes, in Baghdad, a bit of a mango chutney is also spread on the inside. The tray is covered by a large crispy flatbread straight of a clay oven to keep the contents hot until served to the client. The Turkmens of Northern Iraq are known to prepare a similar recipe, two notable admirers of this dish are said to be the former President of France, Jacques Chirac and Vladimir Zhirinovsky, the former chairman of the Russian Duma. Chirac apparently fell for masgûf during a visit to Iraq in a dinner given to his honor by Saddam Hussein
28.
Maqluba
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Maqluba is a traditional dish from the Levant, popular in Bahrain, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Turkey. The dish includes meat, rice, and fried vegetables placed in a pot, which is flipped upside down when served, hence the name maqluba. The dish can include a variety of vegetables, such as fried tomatoes, potatoes, cauliflower, eggplant, when the casserole is inverted, the top is bright red from the tomatoes that now form the top layer and cover the golden eggplant. Maqluba is usually served with yogurt or a simple Arab salad of diced tomato, cucumber, parsley. In Turkey, the dish is known as maklube, although the ingredients become slightly different being modified to fit into Turkish cuisine, the preparation and look of the dish is the same. Arab cuisine Palestinian cuisine Jordanian cuisine List of casserole dishes Maqluba recipe
29.
Dolma
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Dolma is a family of stuffed vegetable dishes common in the Middle East and surrounding regions including the Balkans, the Caucasus, Russia and Central Asia. Common vegetables to stuff include tomato, pepper, onion, zucchini, eggplant, the stuffing may or may not include meat. Meat dolmas are generally served warm, often with tahini, egg-lemon, meatless ones are served cold with yogurt or satziki. Stuffed vegetables are common in Greek cuisine, called gemista, as well as in the Italian cuisine. Dolma is a noun in Turkish for the word dolmak. Dolma without meat is sometimes called yalancı dolma fake dolma in Turkish, versions have been known in Persia since at least as early as the 17th century. In Aleppo, the word يبرق yabraq refers to stuffed vine leaves, while محشي maḥshī refers to stuffed cabbage leaves, an alternative etymology comes from Armenian տոլմա or դոլմա, coming from the words toli, grape leave, and ma, wrapped. Toli as a leave was recorded in the inscriptions of the Kingdom of Van. Initially, in Classical Armenian, the dish was called Tolimis, over time, as often it happens with the endings of Indo-European languages such as Armenian, Tolimis turned into Tolim, followed by Tolima, and finally Tolma. Internationally, the food is called dolma and it is a stuffed vegetable that is hollowed out and filled with stuffing. This applies to zucchini, tomato, pepper, eggplant, and the like, stuffed mackerel, squid, dishes involving wrapping leaves such as vine leaves or cabbage leaves around a filling are called sarma, though in many languages the distinction is usually not made. The filling generally consists of rice, minced meat or grains, in either case, the filling includes onion, herbs like dill, mint or parsley and spices. Meatless fillings are cooked with oil and include raisins or currants, onion. In addition to the traditional dolmas, Armenia has a giant vegan variant called Lenten Dolma and it is wrapped with cabbage leaves, and stuffed with red beans, garbanzo beans, lentils, cracked wheat, tomato paste, onion and many spices and flavorings. Keeping with the Armenian lenten rules, it is vegan, but despite its name of Lenten dolma, pasuts tolma is made of seven different grains – chickpea, bean, lentil, cracked wheat, pea, rice and maize. This dolma is called pasuts because the Christian New Year features the fast days, the seven grains symbolize God’s divine number 7, which is associated with divine perfection and completion. Dolma could be made by using seafood and it is sometimes made with different types of fish or mussels. Midye dolma, is popular in Turkey
30.
Stuffed peppers
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Stuffed peppers is a dish which exists in different names and forms around the world. Stuffed peppers or pimientos rellenos are part of traditional Spanish cuisine, the fillings vary from Mango cheese, to chicken or cod in a red sauce, chicken likely being the most popular recipe. Stuffed Peppers is one of several stuffed vegetable dishes and it consists of bell peppers stuffed with cooked meat, potatoes, and onions and seasoned with chili, turmeric, coriander, cilantro, salt, and lemon juice. The peppers are then browned in a Tava or baked in an oven until the peppers are scorched. Mirchi bajji or pakora is an item and is a hot favorite during the monsoon. In Bombay and western areas, the big green chilli pepper is stuffed with a roasted, spiced flour mix, in the South, the big green chillies, similar to hatch, is dipped in a flour batter and fried. It may be accompanied by chutneys and sauces, in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, some of the smaller but more potent chillies are also stuffed and fried, especially as a side to rice. Dolma is a family of stuffed vegetable dishes that consists of stuffed peppers or grape leaves, dolma are part of the Caucasus, Balkan, Middle Eastern countries, such as Armenia, Azerbaijan, Greece, Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Turkey, and also Central Asia. In Armenian, they are known as tolma, greek, they are known as yemista or gemista. In Egypt, they are known as Filfil Mahshi and it is often served covered with a sauce, although the type of sauce varies widely. It is sometimes served in a taco with rice, salsa. Jalapeño poppers are jalapeño peppers that have been hollowed out, stuffed with a mixture of cheese, spices, and sometimes ground meat, in Guatemala, the pimiento pepper is stuffed with shred pork and vegetables. As the Mexican version, it is covered with egg batter and it is served with tomato sauce or inside a bread bun. Scandinavian Countries, Fyldte peberfrugter, Täytetyt paprikat, Fylltar paprikur, Fylt paprika, baltic Countries, Kimšti pipirai usually made with ground beef, rice, various vegetables and spices, Pildīti pipari and Täidisega paprika is word phrase for stuffed peppers. Most popular in the Zagorje and Vojvodina regions, it is influenced by Hungarian cuisine, the meat, usually ground beef, is mixed with herbs, spices and rice. In Bulgaria, stuffed peppers are eaten with yogurt. Another variety of stuffed peppers in Bulgaria is made with mixed white cheese and eggs instead of meat, ardei umpluţi is Romanian for stuffed peppers. This dish is prepared with bell peppers stuffed with ground meat, rice, onion, and other vegetables and spices and then boiled in a sauce made from cream, tomatoes
31.
Upper Mesopotamia
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Upper Mesopotamia is the name used for the uplands and great outwash plain of northwestern Iraq, northeastern Syria and southeastern Turkey, in the northern Middle East. This region is approximately correspondent with what was Assyria from the 25th century BC through to the mid-7th century AD and it extends down the Tigris to Samarra and down the Euphrates to Hit. The Khabur River runs for over 400 km across the plain, from Turkey in the north, the major settlements are Mosul, Deir ez-Zor, Raqqa, Al Hasakah, Diyarbakır and Qamishli. The western, Syrian part, is contiguous with the Syrian Al-Hasakah Governorate and is described as Syrias breadbasket. The eastern, Iraqi part, includes and extends slightly beyond the Iraqi Ninewa Governorate, in the north it includes the Turkish provinces of Şanlıurfa, Mardin, and parts of Diyarbakır Province. The name al-Jazira has been used since the 7th century CE by Islamic sources to refer to the section of Mesopotamia. The name means island, and at one time referred to the land between the two rivers, which in Aramaic is Bit Nahren. Historically the name referred to as little as the Sinjar plain coming down from the Sinjar Mountains, in pre-Abbasid times the western and eastern boundaries seem to have fluctuated, sometimes including what is now northern Syria to the west and Adiabene in the east. Al-Jazira is characterised as an outwash or alluvial plain, quite distinct from the Syrian Desert and lower-lying central Mesopotamia, however the area includes eroded hills, the region has several parts to it. In the northwest is one of the largest salt flats in the world, further south, extending from Mosul to near Basra is a sandy desert not unlike the Empty Quarter. In the late 20th and early 21st centuries the region has been plagued by drought and this is the area where the earliest signs of agriculture and domestication of animals have been found, and thus the starting point leading to civilization and the modern world. Al-Jazirah includes the mountain Karaca Dağ in southern Turkey, where the closest relative to modern wheat still grows wild, domestication of goats and sheep followed within a few generations, but didnt become widespread for more than a millennium. Weaving and pottery followed about two years later. Further surprises followed in the 1990s with the finds of the megalithic structures at Göbekli Tepe in south-eastern Turkey. The earliest of these apparently ritual buildings are from before 9000 BC—over five thousand years older than Stonehenge—and thus the absolute oldest known megalithic structures anywhere, as far as we know today no well-established farming societies existed at the time. Farming seemed to be experimental and only a smallish supplement to continued hunting and gathering. After all, Göbekli Tepe lies just 32 km from Karaca Dağ, the questions raised by Göbekli Tepe have led to intense and creative discussions among archeologists of the Middle East. Excavations at Göbekli Tepe continues, only about 5 percent has been revealed so far, Upper Mesopotamia is the heartland of ancient Assyria, founded circa the 25th century BC
32.
Wheat
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Wheat is a cereal grain, originally from the Levant region but now cultivated worldwide. In 2016, world production of wheat was 749 million tonnes, making it the second most-produced cereal after maize, since 1960, world production of wheat and other grain crops has tripled and is expected to grow further through the middle of the 21st Century. This grain is grown on land area than any other commercial food. World trade in wheat is greater than for all other crops combined, globally, wheat is the leading source of vegetal protein in human food, having a protein content of about 13%, which is relatively high compared to other major cereals and staple foods. The archaeological record suggests that wheat was first cultivated in the regions of the Fertile Crescent around 9600 BCE. In a small part of the population, gluten – the major part of wheat protein – can trigger coeliac disease, non-coeliac gluten sensitivity, gluten ataxia. Cultivation and repeated harvesting and sowing of the grains of wild grasses led to the creation of domestic strains, in domesticated wheat, grains are larger, and the seeds remain attached to the ear by a toughened rachis during harvesting. In wild strains, a more fragile rachis allows the ear to easily shatter, as the traits that improve wheat as a food source also involve the loss of the plants natural seed dispersal mechanisms, highly domesticated strains of wheat cannot survive in the wild. Cultivation of wheat began to spread beyond the Fertile Crescent after about 8000 BCE, jared Diamond traces the spread of cultivated emmer wheat starting in the Fertile Crescent sometime before 8800 BCE. Archaeological analysis of wild emmer indicates that it was first cultivated in the southern Levant with finds dating back as far as 9600 BCE, Genetic analysis of wild einkorn wheat suggests that it was first grown in the Karacadag Mountains in southeastern Turkey. Dated archeological remains of wheat in settlement sites near this region, including those at Abu Hureyra in Syria. With the anomalous exception of two grains from Iraq ed-Dubb, the earliest carbon-14 date for einkorn wheat remains at Abu Hureyra is 7800 to 7500 years BCE. Remains of harvested emmer from several sites near the Karacadag Range have been dated to between 8600 and 8400 BCE, that is, in the Neolithic period and these remains were dated by Willem van Zeist and his assistant Johanna Bakker-Heeres to 8800 BCE. They also concluded that the settlers of Tell Aswad did not develop this form of emmer themselves, the cultivation of emmer reached Greece, Cyprus and India by 6500 BCE, Egypt shortly after 6000 BCE, and Germany and Spain by 5000 BCE. The early Egyptians were developers of bread and the use of the oven, by 3000 BCE, wheat had reached the British Isles and Scandinavia. A millennium later it reached China, the oldest evidence for hexaploid wheat has been confirmed through DNA analysis of wheat seeds, dating to around 6400-6200 BCE, recovered from Çatalhöyük. The first identifiable bread wheat with sufficient gluten for yeasted breads has been identified using DNA analysis in samples from a dating to approximately 1350 BCE at Assiros in Macedonia. From Asia, wheat continued to spread throughout Europe, in the British Isles, wheat straw was used for roofing in the Bronze Age, and was in common use until the late 19th century
33.
Apple
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The apple tree is a deciduous tree in the rose family best known for its sweet, pomaceous fruit, the apple. It is cultivated worldwide as a tree, and is the most widely grown species in the genus Malus. The tree originated in Central Asia, where its wild ancestor, Apples have been grown for thousands of years in Asia and Europe, and were brought to North America by European colonists. Apples have religious and mythological significance in many cultures, including Norse, Greek, Apple trees are large if grown from seed. Generally apple cultivars are propagated by grafting onto rootstocks, which control the size of the resulting tree, There are more than 7,500 known cultivars of apples, resulting in a range of desired characteristics. Different cultivars are bred for various tastes and uses, including cooking, eating raw, trees and fruit are prone to a number of fungal, bacterial and pest problems, which can be controlled by a number of organic and non-organic means. In 2010, the genome was sequenced as part of research on disease control. Worldwide production of apples in 2014 was 84.6 million tonnes, the apple is a deciduous tree, generally standing 1.8 to 4.6 m tall in cultivation and up to 12 m in the wild. When cultivated, the size, shape and branch density are determined by rootstock selection, the leaves are alternately arranged dark green-colored simple ovals with serrated margins and slightly downy undersides. Blossoms are produced in spring simultaneously with the budding of the leaves, the 3 to 4 cm flowers are white with a pink tinge that gradually fades, five petaled, with an inflorescence consisting of a cyme with 4–6 flowers. The central flower of the inflorescence is called the king bloom, it opens first, the fruit matures in late summer or autumn, and cultivars exist with a wide range of sizes. Commercial growers aim to produce an apple that is 7.0 to 8.3 cm in diameter, due to market preference. Some consumers, especially those in Japan, prefer a larger apple, while apples below 5.7 cm are generally used for making juice and have little market value. The skin of ripe apples is generally red, yellow, green, pink, the skin may also be wholly or partly russeted i. e. rough and brown. The skin is covered in a layer of epicuticular wax. The exocarp is generally pale yellowish-white, though pink or yellow also occur. The original wild ancestor of Malus pumila was Malus sieversii, found growing wild in the mountains of Central Asia in southern Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, in strains without recent admixture the contribution of the latter predominates. It had about 57,000 genes, the highest number of any plant genome studied to date and this new understanding of the apple genome will help scientists in identifying genes and gene variants that contribute to resistance to disease and drought, and other desirable characteristics
34.
Rice
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Rice is the seed of the grass species Oryza sativa or Oryza glaberrima. As a cereal grain, it is the most widely consumed staple food for a part of the worlds human population. It is the agricultural commodity with the third-highest worldwide production, after sugarcane and maize, wild rice, from which the crop was developed, may have its native range in Australia. Chinese legends attribute the domestication of rice to Shennong, the emperor of China. Genetic evidence has shown that rice originates from a single domestication 8, previously, archaeological evidence had suggested that rice was domesticated in the Yangtze River valley region in China. From East Asia, rice was spread to Southeast and South Asia, Rice was introduced to Europe through Western Asia, and to the Americas through European colonization. There are many varieties of rice and culinary preferences tend to vary regionally, in some areas such as the Far East or Spain, there is a preference for softer and stickier varieties. Rice, a monocot, is grown as an annual plant, although in tropical areas it can survive as a perennial. The rice plant can grow to 1–1.8 m tall, occasionally more depending on the variety and it has long, slender leaves 50–100 cm long and 2–2.5 cm broad. The small wind-pollinated flowers are produced in a branched arching to pendulous inflorescence 30–50 cm long, the edible seed is a grain 5–12 mm long and 2–3 mm thick. Rice cultivation is well-suited to countries and regions with low costs and high rainfall, as it is labor-intensive to cultivate. However, rice can be grown practically anywhere, even on a hill or mountain area with the use of water-controlling terrace systems. Although its parent species are native to Asia and certain parts of Africa, centuries of trade, the traditional method for cultivating rice is flooding the fields while, or after, setting the young seedlings. The name wild rice is used for species of the genera Zizania and Porteresia. The Greek word is the source of all European words, the origin of the Greek word is unclear. It is sometimes held to be from the Tamil word அரிசி, however, Krishnamurti disagrees with the notion that Old Tamil arici is the source of the Greek term, and proposes that it was borrowed from descendants of Proto-Dravidian *wariñci instead. The varieties of rice are typically classified as long-, medium-, the grains of long-grain rice tend to remain intact after cooking, medium-grain rice becomes more sticky. Medium-grain rice is used for dishes, for risotto in Italy
35.
Barley
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Barley, a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains, particularly in Eurasia as early as 10,000 years ago, Barley has been used as animal fodder, as a source of fermentable material for beer and certain distilled beverages, and as a component of various health foods. It is used in soups and stews, and in barley bread of various cultures, Barley grains are commonly made into malt in a traditional and ancient method of preparation. In 2014, barley was ranked fourth among grains in quantity produced behind corn, rice, the Old English word for barley was bære, which traces back to Proto-Indo-European and is cognate to the Latin word farina flour. The direct ancestor of modern English barley in Old English was the derived adjective bærlic, the first citation of the form bærlic in the Oxford English Dictionary dates to around 966 CE, in the compound word bærlic-croft. The underived word bære survives in the north of Scotland as bere, the word barn, which originally meant barley-house, is also rooted in these words. Barley is a member of the grass family and it is a self-pollinating, diploid species with 14 chromosomes. The wild ancestor of domesticated barley, Hordeum vulgare subsp, spontaneum, is abundant in grasslands and woodlands throughout the Fertile Crescent area of Western Asia and northeast Africa, and is abundant in disturbed habitats, roadsides and orchards. Outside this region, the barley is less common and is usually found in disturbed habitats. However, in a study of genome-wide diversity markers, Tibet was found to be a center of domestication of cultivated barley. Wild barley has a spike, upon maturity, the spikelets separate. Domesticated barley has nonshattering spikes, making it easier to harvest the mature ears. The nonshattering condition is caused by a mutation in one of two linked genes known as Bt1 and Bt2, many cultivars possess both mutations. The nonshattering condition is recessive, so varieties of barley that exhibit this condition are homozygous for the mutant allele, spikelets are arranged in triplets which alternate along the rachis. In wild barley, only the central spikelet is fertile, while the two are reduced. This condition is retained in certain cultivars known as two-row barleys, a pair of mutations result in fertile lateral spikelets to produce six-row barleys. Recent genetic studies have revealed that a mutation in one gene, two-row barley has a lower protein content than six-row barley, thus a more fermentable sugar content. High-protein barley is best suited for animal feed, Malting barley is usually lower protein which shows more uniform germination, needs shorter steeping, and has less protein in the extract that can make beer cloudy
36.
Citrus
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Citrus is a genus of flowering trees and shrubs in the rue family, Rutaceae. Plants in the genus produce citrus fruits, including important crops like oranges, lemons, grapefruit, pomelo, the most recent research indicates an origin in Australia, New Caledonia and New Guinea. Citrus fruit has been cultivated in an area since ancient times. At various times, citrus plants were thought to be native to Asia, Europe, but the European oranges were originally brought from India at around the time of Alexander the Great, and the native oranges of Florida actually originated with the Spanish Conquistadors. The lemon reached Europe during the time of classical Rome, the generic name originated from Latin, where it referred to either the plant now known as Citron or a conifer tree. It is somehow related to the ancient Greek word for cedar and this may be due to perceived similarities in the smell of citrus leaves and fruit with that of cedar. Collectively, Citrus fruits and plants are known by the Romance loanword agrumes. The large citrus fruit of today evolved originally from small, edible berries over millions of years, Citrus plants diverged from a common ancestor about 15 million years ago, which was about when it diverged from the closely related severinia, for example the Chinese box orange. These estimates are made using genetic mapping of plant chloroplasts, the three original species in the citrus genus that have been hybridized into most modern commercial citrus fruit are the mandarin orange, pummelo, and citron. Within the last few years, all common citrus fruits were created by crossing those original species. Something similar has occurred with the array of chili peppers originating in the hybridization of a few initial species. Natural and cultivated citrus hybrids include commercially important fruit such as oranges, grapefruit, lemons, limes, apart from these four core citrus species, there are Australian limes and the recently discovered Mangshanyegan. Kumquats and Clymenia sp. are now considered to belong within the citrus genus. Trifoliate orange, which is used as commercial rootstock, is an outgroup. Phylogenetic analysis suggests the species of Oxanthera from New Caledonia should be transferred to the genus Citrus and these plants are large shrubs or small to moderate-sized trees, reaching 5–15 m tall, with spiny shoots and alternately arranged evergreen leaves with an entire margin. The flowers are solitary or in corymbs, each flower 2–4 cm diameter, with five white petals and numerous stamens. The fruit is a hesperidium, a berry, globose to elongated, 4–30 cm long and 4–20 cm diameter. The outermost layer of the pericarp is a called the flavedo
37.
Date palm
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Phoenix dactylifera, commonly known as date or date palm, is a flowering plant species in the palm family, Arecaceae, cultivated for its edible sweet fruit. Although its place of origin is unknown because of long cultivation, the species is widely cultivated and is naturalized in many tropical and subtropical regions worldwide. Date trees typically reach about 21–23 metres in height, growing singly or forming a clump with stems from a single root system. The leaves are 4–6 metres long, with spines on the petiole, the leaflets are 30 cm long and 2 cm wide. The full span of the ranges from 6–10 m. The species name dactylifera date-bearing comes from the Greek words daktylos, which date, and fero. Dates have been a food of the Middle East and the Indus Valley for thousands of years. There is archaeological evidence of cultivation in eastern Arabia between 5530 and 5320 calBC. They are believed to have originated around what is now Iraq, the Ancient Egyptians used the fruits to make date wine, and ate them at harvest. There is also evidence of date cultivation in Mehrgarh around 7000 BCE. Evidence of cultivation is found throughout later civilizations in the Indus Valley. In later times, traders spread dates around South West Asia, northern Africa, dates were introduced into Mexico and California by the Spaniards in 1765, around Mission San Ignacio. A date palm cultivar, known as Judean date palm is renowned for its long-lived orthodox seed and this particular seed is presently reputed to be the oldest viable seed, but the upper survival time limit of properly stored seeds remains unknown. Fossil records show that the palm has existed for at least 50 million years. The fruit is known as a date, the fruits English name, as well as the Latin species name dactylifera, both come from the Greek word for finger, dáktulos, because of the fruits elongated shape. Dates are oval-cylindrical, 3–7 cm long, and 2–3 cm diameter, dates contain a single stone about 2–2.5 cm long and 6–8 mm thick. Three main cultivar groups of date exist, soft, semi-dry, the type of fruit depends on the glucose, fructose, and sucrose content. The date palm is dioecious, having male and female plants
38.
Jarmo
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Jarmo is a prehistoric archeological site located in Southern Kurdistan on the foothills. It lies in the Zagros Mountains at an altitude of 800 m above sea-level in a belt of oak, excavations revealed that Jarmo was an agricultural community dating back to 7090 BCE. It was broadly contemporary with other important Neolithic sites such as Jericho in the southern Levant. The site was discovered by the Iraqi Directorate of Antiquities in 1940. At the time, he was looking for places to research the origins of the Neolithic Revolution. The interdisciplinary method was used in all serious field work in archaeology. The excavations exposed a small village, covering an area of 12,000 to 16,000 m², the entire site consists of twelve levels. Jarmo appears to be two older, permanent Neolithic settlements and, approximately, contemporary with Jericho or the Neolithic stage of Shanidar, the high point is likely to have been between 6,200 and 5,800 BC. This small village consisted of twenty five houses, with adobe walls and sun-dried mud roofs. These dwellings were repaired or rebuilt. In all, about 150 people lived in the village, which was clearly a permanent settlement, in the earlier phases there is a preponderance of objects made from stone, silex- using older styles- and obsidian. In the oldest level baskets have been found, waterproofed with pitch, agricultural activity is attested by the presence of stone sickles, cutters, bowls and other objects, for harvesting, preparing and storing food, and also by receptacles of engraved marble. In the later phases instruments made of bone, particularly perforating tools, further research has shown that the villagers of Jarmo grew wheat of two types, emmer and einkorn, a type of primitive barley and lentils. Their diet, and that of their animals, also included species of plant, peas, acorns, carob seeds, pistachios. There is evidence that they had domesticated goats, sheep and dogs, on the higher levels of the site pigs have been found, together with the first evidence of pottery. Jarmo is one of the oldest sites at which pottery has been found, appearing in the most recent levels of excavation and this pottery is handmade, of simple design and with thick sides, and treated with a vegetable solvent. Braidwood, Jarmo, A village of farmers in Iraq, Antiquity. 24, pp. 189–195,1950, J. M. Adovasio, The Textile and Basketry Impressions from Jarmo, Paléorient, vol
39.
Pistachio
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The pistachio, a member of the cashew family, is a small tree originating from Central Asia and the Middle East. The tree produces seeds that are consumed as food. Pistacia vera often is confused with species in the genus Pistacia that are also known as pistachio. These other species can be distinguished by their distributions and their seeds which are much smaller and have a soft shell. Archaeology shows that pistachio seeds were a food as early as 6750 BC. The early sixth-century manuscript De observatione ciborum by Anthimus implies that pistacia remained well known in Europe in Late Antiquity, archaeologists have found evidence from excavations at Jarmo in northeastern Iraq for the consumption of Atlantic pistachio. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon were said to have contained pistachio trees during the reign of King Merodach-Baladan about 700 BC, the modern pistachio P. vera was first cultivated in Bronze Age Central Asia, where the earliest example is from Djarkutan, modern Uzbekistan. It appears in Dioscurides as pistakia πιστάκια, recognizable as P. vera by its comparison to pine nuts. David Fairchild of the United States Department of Agriculture introduced hardier cultivars collected in China to California in 1904 and 1905, walter T. Swingle’s pistachios from Syria had already fruited well at Niles, California, by 1917. The earliest records of pistachio in English are around roughly year 1400, with the spellings pistace, later in Persian, the word is attested as pesteh. As mentioned, the tree came to the ancient Greeks from Western Asia, Pistachio is a desert plant, and is highly tolerant of saline soil. It has been reported to grow well when irrigated with water having 3, Pistachio trees are fairly hardy in the right conditions, and can survive temperatures ranging between −10 °C in winter and 48 °C in summer. They need a sunny position and well-drained soil, Pistachio trees do poorly in conditions of high humidity, and are susceptible to root rot in winter if they get too much water and the soil is not sufficiently free-draining. Long, hot summers are required for proper ripening of the fruit and they have been known to thrive in warm, moist environments. The bush grows up to 10 m tall and it has deciduous pinnate leaves 10–20 centimeters long. The plants are dioecious, with male and female trees. The flowers are apetalous and unisexual, and borne in panicles, the fruit is a drupe, containing an elongated seed, which is the edible portion. The seed, commonly thought of as a nut, is a culinary nut, the fruit has a hard, creamish exterior shell
40.
Sumerian language
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Sumerian is the language of ancient Sumer and a language isolate which was spoken in southern Mesopotamia. During the 3rd millennium BC, an intimate cultural symbiosis developed between the Sumerians and the Akkadians, which included widespread bilingualism. The influence of Sumerian on Akkadian is evident in all areas, from lexical borrowing on a scale, to syntactic, morphological. This has prompted scholars to refer to Sumerian and Akkadian in the third millennium BC as a Sprachbund, then it was forgotten until the 19th century, when Assyriologists began deciphering the cuneiform inscriptions and excavated tablets left by these speakers. It succeeds the proto-literate period, which spans roughly the 35th to 30th centuries, some versions of the chronology may omit the Late Sumerian phase and regard all texts written after 2000 BC as Post-Sumerian. The term Post-Sumerian is meant to refer to the time when the language was already extinct, the extinction has traditionally been dated approximately to the end of the Third Dynasty of Ur, the last predominantly Sumerian state in Mesopotamia, about 2000 BC. The standard variety of Sumerian is called eme-ĝir, a notable variety or sociolect is called eme-sal. Eme-sal is used exclusively by female characters in some literary texts, in addition, it is dominant in certain genres of cult songs. The special features of eme-sal are mostly phonological, but words different from the language are also used. Sumerian is a language, meaning that words could consist of a chain of more or less clearly distinguishable and separable affixes and/or morphemes. Sumerian distinguishes the grammatical genders human/non-human, but it not have separate male/female gender pronouns. The human gender includes not only humans but also gods and in cases the word for statue. Sumerian has also claimed to have two tenses, but these are currently described as completive and incompletive or perfective and imperfective aspects instead. There are a number of cases, absolutive, ergative, genitive, dative/allative, locative, comitative, equative, directive/adverbial. The naming and number of the cases varies in the scientific literature, the different homophones are marked with different numbers by convention,2 and 3 being often replaced by acute accent and grave accent diacritics respectively. For example, du = go, du3 = dù = build, Sumerian is a split ergative language. It behaves as a language in the 1st and 2nd person of present-future tense/incompletive aspect. Similar patterns are found in a number of unrelated split ergative languages
41.
Akkadian
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Akkadian is an extinct East Semitic language that was spoken in ancient Mesopotamia. The earliest attested Semitic language, it used the writing system, which was originally used to write the unrelated Ancient Sumerian. The language was named after the city of Akkad, a centre of Mesopotamian civilization during the Akkadian Empire. The mutual influence between Sumerian and Akkadian had led scholars to describe the languages as a sprachbund, Akkadian proper names were first attested in Sumerian texts from around the mid 3rd-millennium BC. From the second half of the third millennium BC, texts written in Akkadian begin to appear. By the second millennium BC, two variant forms of the language were in use in Assyria and Babylonia, known as Assyrian and Babylonian respectively, for centuries, Akkadian was the native language in Mesopotamian nations such as Assyria and Babylonia. However, it began to decline during the Neo-Assyrian Empire around the 8th century BC, by the Hellenistic period, the language was largely confined to scholars and priests working in temples in Assyria and Babylonia. The last known Akkadian cuneiform document dates from the 1st century AD, Akkadian belongs with the other Semitic languages in the Near Eastern branch of the Afroasiatic languages, a family native to East Africa, which then spread to West, Northwest and Northeast Africa. Within the Near Eastern Semitic languages, Akkadian forms an East Semitic subgroup and this novel word order is due to the influence of the Sumerian substratum, which has an SOV order. Additionally Akkadian is the only Semitic language to use the prepositions ina and ana, other Semitic languages like Arabic and Aramaic have the prepositions bi/bə and li/lə. The origin of the Akkadian spatial prepositions is unknown, in contrast to most other Semitic languages, Akkadian has only one non-sibilant fricative, ḫ. Akkadian lost both the glottal and pharyngeal fricatives, which are characteristic of the other Semitic languages, until the Old Babylonian period, the Akkadian sibilants were exclusively affricated. Old Akkadian is preserved on clay tablets dating back to c.2500 BC and it was written using cuneiform, a script adopted from the Sumerians using wedge-shaped symbols pressed in wet clay. As employed by Akkadian scribes, the cuneiform script could represent either Sumerian logograms, Sumerian syllables, Akkadian syllables. For this reason, the sign AN can on the one hand be a logogram for the word ilum, additionally, this sign was used as a determinative for divine names. Another peculiarity of Akkadian cuneiform is that many signs do not have a phonetic value. Certain signs, such as AḪ, do not distinguish between the different vowel qualities, nor is there any coordination in the other direction, the syllable -ša-, for example, is rendered by the sign ŠA, but also by the sign NĪĜ. Both of these are used for the same syllable in the same text
42.
Bilingual dictionary
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A bilingual dictionary or translation dictionary is a specialized dictionary used to translate words or phrases from one language to another. Bilingual dictionaries can be unidirectional, meaning that they list the meanings of words of one language in another, or can be bidirectional, allowing translation to, bidirectional bilingual dictionaries usually consist of two sections, each listing words and phrases of one language alphabetically along with their translation. In addition to the translation, a bilingual dictionary usually indicates the part of speech, gender, verb type, declension model, other features sometimes present in bilingual dictionaries are lists of phrases, usage and style guides, verb tables, maps and grammar references. In contrast to the dictionary, a monolingual dictionary defines words. The Roman Emperor Claudius is known to have compiled an Etruscan-Latin dictionary, one substantial bilingual dictionary was the Mahāvyutpatti. Dictionaries from Hebrew and Aramaic into medieval French were composed in the European Jewish communities in the 10th century CE and these were used for understanding and teaching the Talmud and other Jewish texts. The most important challenge for practical and theoretical lexicographers is to define the functions of a bilingual dictionary, a bilingual dictionary works to help users translate texts from one language into another or to help users understand foreign-language texts. In such situations users will require the dictionary to contain different types of data that have been selected for the function in question. If the dictionary is intended to translate texts, it will need to include not only equivalents but also collocations. The British lexicographer Robert Ilson gives example definitions from the Collins-Robert French-English English-French Dictionary, both phrases can be understood reasonably well from their constituents and have fairly obvious contrasts with garde urbain in French or with urban policeman in English. But garde champêtre has a specific unpredictable contrast within the system of French. But a gendarme is a member of a police force that is technically part of the French Army whereas a garde champêtre is employed by a local commune. Rural policeman has no such contrast, for example, in English, a ticket can provide entrance to a movie theater, authorize a bus or train ride, or can be given to you by a police officer for exceeding the posted speed limit. Recently, a method for the disambiguation of the entries of bilingual dictionaries has been proposed that makes use of specific kinds of graphs. As a result, translations in each entry of the dictionary are assigned the specific sense they refer to, to mitigate the problem of one word having multiple meanings and its translation having multiple, but not necessarily corresponding meanings, the user should perform a reverse lookup. Reverse lookups can usually be performed faster with Dictionary programs and online dictionaries, bilingual dictionaries are available in a number of formats, and often include a grammar reference and usage examples. Printed dictionaries – Printed dictionaries range from small pocket-sized editions to large, Dictionary programs – software that allows words or phrases to be input and translated on computers and smart phones. Visual dictionaries – A visual dictionary is a dictionary that relies primarily on illustrations to provide the user with a reliable way of identifying the correct translation
43.
Cuneiform script
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Cuneiform script, one of the earliest systems of writing, was invented by the Sumerians. It is distinguished by its wedge-shaped marks on clay tablets, made by means of a blunt reed for a stylus, the name cuneiform itself simply means wedge shaped. Emerging in Sumer in the fourth millennium BC, cuneiform writing began as a system of pictograms. In the third millennium, the pictorial representations became simplified and more abstract as the number of characters in use grew smaller, the system consists of a combination of logophonetic, consonantal alphabetic and syllabic signs. Cuneiform writing was replaced by the Phoenician alphabet during the Neo-Assyrian Empire. By the second century CE, the script had become extinct, between half a million and two million cuneiform tablets are estimated to have been excavated in modern times, of which only approximately 30,000 –100,000 have been read or published. Most of these have lain in these collections for a century without being translated, studied or published, the cuneiform writing system was in use for more than three millennia, through several stages of development, from the 34th century BC down to the second century CE. Ultimately, it was replaced by alphabetic writing in the course of the Roman era. It had to be deciphered as an unknown writing system in 19th-century Assyriology. Successful completion of its deciphering is dated to 1857, the cuneiform script was developed from pictographic proto-writing in the late 4th millennium BC. Mesopotamias proto-literate period spans roughly the 35th to 32nd centuries, the first documents unequivocally written in Sumerian date to the 31st century at Jemdet Nasr. Originally, pictographs were either drawn on clay tablets in vertical columns with a reed stylus or incised in stone. This early style lacked the characteristic shape of the strokes. Proper names continued to be written in purely logographic fashion. The earliest known Sumerian king whose name appears on contemporary cuneiform tablets is Enmebaragesi of Kish, from about 2900 BC, many pictographs began to lose their original function, and a given sign could have various meanings depending on context. The sign inventory was reduced from some 1,500 signs to some 600 signs, determinative signs were re-introduced to avoid ambiguity. Cuneiform writing proper thus arises from the more primitive system of pictographs at about that time, by adjusting the relative position of the tablet to the stylus, the writer could use a single tool to make a variety of impressions. Cuneiform tablets could be fired in kilns to provide a permanent record, many of the clay tablets found by archaeologists were preserved because they were fired when attacking armies burned the building in which they were kept
44.
Cheese
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Cheese is a food derived from milk that is produced in a wide range of flavors, textures, and forms by coagulation of the milk protein casein. It comprises proteins and fat from milk, usually the milk of cows, buffalo, goats, during production, the milk is usually acidified, and adding the enzyme rennet causes coagulation. The solids are separated and pressed into final form, Some cheeses have molds on the rind, the outer layer, or throughout. Most cheeses melt at cooking temperature, hundreds of types of cheese from various countries are produced. Their styles, textures and flavors depend on the origin of the milk, whether they have been pasteurized, the content, the bacteria and mold, the processing. Herbs, spices, or wood smoke may be used as flavoring agents, the yellow to red color of many cheeses, such as Red Leicester, is produced by adding annatto. Other ingredients may be added to some cheeses, such as pepper, garlic. For a few cheeses, the milk is curdled by adding acids such as vinegar or lemon juice, most cheeses are acidified to a lesser degree by bacteria, which turn milk sugars into lactic acid, then the addition of rennet completes the curdling. Vegetarian alternatives to rennet are available, most are produced by fermentation of the fungus Mucor miehei, cheesemakers near a dairy region may benefit from fresher, lower-priced milk, and lower shipping costs. Cheese is valued for its portability, long life, and high content of fat, protein, calcium, generally speaking, hard cheeses, such as parmesan last longer than soft cheeses, such as Brie or goats milk cheese. The long storage life of some cheeses, especially when encased in a protective rind, There is some debate as to the best way to store cheese, but some experts say that wrapping it in cheese paper provides optimal results. Cheese paper is coated in a plastic on the inside. A specialist seller of cheese is known as a cheesemonger. Becoming an expert in this field requires some formal education and years of tasting and hands-on experience, the cheesemonger is responsible for all aspects of the cheese inventory, selecting the cheese menu, purchasing, receiving, storage, and ripening. The word cheese comes from Latin caseus, from which the modern word casein is also derived, the earliest source is from the proto-Indo-European root *kwat-, which means to ferment, become sour. The word cheese comes from chese and cīese or cēse, the Online Etymological Dictionary states that cheese comes from Old English cyse, cese. from West Germanic *kasjus, from Latin caseus cheese. The Online Etymological Dictionary states that the word is of. unknown origin, perhaps from a PIE root *kwat- to ferment, Old Norse ostr, Danish ost, Swedish ost are related to Latin ius broth, sauce, juice. When the Romans began to make hard cheeses for their legionaries supplies and it is from this word that the French fromage, proper Italian formaggio, Catalan formatge, Breton fourmaj, and Provençal furmo are derived
45.
Soup
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Soup is a primarily liquid food, generally served warm or hot, that is made by combining ingredients such as meat and vegetables with stock, juice, water, or another liquid. Hot soups are additionally characterized by boiling solid ingredients in liquids in a pot until the flavors are extracted, traditionally, soups are classified into two main groups, clear soups and thick soups. The established French classifications of clear soups are bouillon and consommé, other ingredients commonly used to thicken soups and broths include egg, rice, lentils, flour, and grains, many popular soups also include carrots and potatoes. Soups are similar to stews, and in some there may not be a clear distinction between the two, however, soups generally have more liquid than stews. Evidence of the existence of soup can be found as far back as about 20,000 BC, boiling was not a common cooking technique until the invention of waterproof containers. Animal hides and watertight baskets of bark or reeds were used before this, to boil the water hot rocks were used. This method was used to cook acorns and other plants. The word soup comes from French soupe, which comes through Vulgar Latin suppa from a Germanic source, from which comes the word sop. In 1765, a Parisian entrepreneur opened a shop specializing in such soups and this prompted the use of the modern word restaurant for the eating establishments. A1772 cookbook, The Frugal Housewife, contained a chapter on the topic. English cooking dominated early colonial cooking, but as new immigrants arrived from other countries, in particular, German immigrants living in Pennsylvania were famous for their potato soups. In 1794, Jean Baptiste Gilbert Payplat dis Julien, a refugee from the French Revolution, opened an establishment in Boston called The Restorator. The first American cooking pamphlet dedicated to soup recipes was written in 1882 by Emma Ewing, Soups, portable soup was devised in the 18th century by boiling seasoned meat until a thick, resinous syrup was left that could be dried and stored for months at a time. Commercial soup became popular with the invention of canning in the 19th century, doctor John T. Dorrance, a chemist with the Campbell Soup Company, invented condensed soup in 1897. Today, Campbells Tomato, Cream of Mushroom, and Chicken Noodle Soup are three of the most popular soups in America, americans consume approximately 2.5 billion bowls of these three soups alone each year. Canned soup can be condensed, in case it is prepared by adding water, or it can be ready-to-eat. Canned soup can be prepared by heating in a pan, on the stovetop or in the microwave, such soups can be used as a base for homemade soups, with the consumer adding anything from a few vegetables to eggs, meat, cream or pasta. Condensing soup allows soup to be packaged into a smaller can, the soup is usually doubled in volume by adding a can full of water or milk
46.
Bread
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Bread is a staple food prepared from a dough of flour and water, usually by baking. Throughout recorded history it has been popular around the world and is one of the oldest artificial foods, proportions of types of flour and other ingredients vary widely, as do modes of preparation. As a result, types, shapes, sizes, and textures of breads differ around the world, Bread may be leavened by processes such as reliance on naturally occurring sourdough microbes, chemicals, industrially produced yeast, or high-pressure aeration. Some bread is cooked before it can leaven, including for traditional or religious reasons, non-cereal ingredients such as fruits, nuts and fats may be included. Commercial bread commonly contains additives to improve flavor, texture, color, shelf life, Bread is served in various forms with any meal of the day. It is eaten as a snack, and used as an ingredient in other preparations, such as sandwiches. It forms the main component of bread pudding, as well as of stuffings designed to fill cavities or retain juices that otherwise might drip out. Bread has a social and emotional significance beyond its importance as nourishment and it plays essential roles in religious rituals and secular culture. Its prominence in daily life is reflected in language, where it appears in proverbs, colloquial expressions, in prayer and in the etymology of words, the Old English word for bread was hlaf, which appears to be the oldest Teutonic name. Old High German hleib and modern German Laib derive from this Proto-Germanic word, Bread is one of the oldest prepared foods. Evidence from 30,000 years ago in Europe revealed starch residue on rocks used for pounding plants. It is possible that during this time, starch extract from the roots of plants, such as cattails and ferns, was spread on a rock, placed over a fire. Around 10,000 BC, with the dawn of the Neolithic age, yeast spores are ubiquitous, including on the surface of cereal grains, so any dough left to rest leavens naturally. There were multiple sources of leavening available for early bread, airborne yeasts could be harnessed by leaving uncooked dough exposed to air for some time before cooking. Pliny the Elder reported that the Gauls and Iberians used the foam skimmed from beer to produce a kind of bread than other peoples. Parts of the ancient world that drank wine instead of used a paste composed of grape juice and flour that was allowed to begin fermenting, or wheat bran steeped in wine. The most common source of leavening was to retain a piece of dough from the day to use as a form of sourdough starter. In 1961 the Chorleywood bread process was developed, which used the intense mechanical working of dough to dramatically reduce the fermentation period, the process, whose high-energy mixing allows for the use of lower protein grain, is now widely used around the world in large factories
47.
Babylon
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Babylon was a major city of ancient Mesopotamia in the fertile plain between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. The city was built upon the Euphrates and divided in parts along its left and right banks. Babylon was originally a small Semitic Akkadian city dating from the period of the Akkadian Empire c.2300 BC, the town attained independence as part of a small city-state with the rise of the First Amorite Babylonian Dynasty in 1894 BC. Babylon grew and South Mesopotamia came to be known as Babylonia, the empire quickly dissolved after Hammurabis death and Babylon spent long periods under Assyrian, Kassite and Elamite domination. After being destroyed and then rebuilt by the Assyrians, Babylon became the capital of the Neo-Babylonian Empire from 609 to 539 BC, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. After the fall of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, the city came under the rule of the Achaemenid, Seleucid, Parthian, Roman, and Sassanid empires. It has been estimated that Babylon was the largest city in the world from c.1770 to 1670 BC and it was perhaps the first city to reach a population above 200,000. Estimates for the extent of its area range from 890 to 900 hectares. The remains of the city are in present-day Hillah, Babil Governorate, Iraq, about 85 kilometres south of Baghdad, comprising a large tell of broken mud-brick buildings, the English Babylon comes from Greek Babylṓn, a transliteration of the Akkadian Babili. The Babylonian name in the early 2nd millennium BC had been Babilli or Babilla, by the 1st millennium BC, it had changed to Babili under the influence of the folk etymology which traced it to bāb-ili. The Gate of God or Gate of El being from the Aramaic Hebrew Bab for Gate and El for God and this being similar to the Hebrew word for confusion Balal. In the Bible, the name appears as Babel, interpreted in the Hebrew Scriptures Book of Genesis to mean confusion, the modern English verb, to babble, or to speak meaningless words, is popularly thought to derive from this name, but there is no direct connection. The remains of the city are in present-day Hillah, Babil Governorate, Iraq, about 85 kilometers south of Baghdad, comprising a large tell of broken mud-brick buildings and debris. The site at Babylon consists of a number of mounds covering an area of about 2 by 1 kilometer, oriented north to south, along the Euphrates to the west. Originally, the river roughly bisected the city, but the course of the river has since shifted so that most of the remains of the western part of the city are now inundated. Some portions of the city wall to the west of the river also remain, remains of the city include, Kasr—also called Palace or Castle, it is the location of the Neo-Babylonian ziggurat Etemenanki and lies in the center of the site. Amran Ibn Ali—the highest of the mounds at 25 meters, to the south and it is the site of Esagila, a temple of Marduk which also contained shrines to Ea and Nabu. Homera—a reddish colored mound on the west side, most of the Hellenistic remains are here
48.
Leek
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The leek is a vegetable, a cultivar of Allium ampeloprasum, the broadleaf wild leek. The edible part of the plant is a bundle of leaf sheaths that is sometimes called a stem or stalk. Historically, many names were used for leeks, but they are now all treated as cultivars of A. ampeloprasum. The name leek developed from the Anglo-Saxon word leac, two closely related vegetables, elephant garlic and kurrat, are also cultivars of A. ampeloprasum, although different in their uses as food. The onion and garlic are also related, being other species of the genus Allium, rather than forming a tight bulb like the onion, the leek produces a long cylinder of bundled leaf sheaths that are generally blanched by pushing soil around them. They are often sold as small seedlings in flats that are started off early in greenhouses, once established in the garden, leeks are hardy, many varieties can be left in the ground during the winter to be harvested as needed. Leek cultivars may be treated as a cultivar group, e. g. as A. ampeloprasum Leek Group. Summer leek types are smaller than overwintering types, overwintering types are generally more strongly flavored. Cultivars include King Richard and Tadorna Blue, leeks are easy to grow from seed and tolerate standing in the field for an extended harvest, which takes place up to 6 months from planting. The soil in which it is grown has to be loose and drained well, leeks usually reach maturity in the autumn months. The thrips species Thrips tabaci is considered a leek pest and leeks can also get leek rust. Leeks can be bunched and harvested early when they are about the size of a finger or pencil, hilling leeks can produce better specimens. Leeks have a mild, onion-like taste, in its raw state, the vegetable is crunchy and firm. The edible portions of the leek are the base of the leaves, the light green parts. One of the most popular uses is for adding flavor to stock, the dark green portion is usually discarded because it has a tough texture, but it can be sautéed or added to stock. A few leaves are sometimes tied with twine and other herbs to form a bouquet garni, leeks are typically chopped into slices 5–10 mm thick. The slices have a tendency to fall apart, due to the structure of the leek. The different ways of preparing the vegetable are, Boiling turns it soft, frying leaves it crunchier and preserves the taste
49.
Onion
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The onion, also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable and is the most widely cultivated species of the genus Allium. This genus also contains several other species variously referred to as onions and cultivated for food, such as the Japanese bunching onion, the onion. The name wild onion is applied to a number of Allium species and its ancestral wild original form is not known, although escapes from cultivation have become established in some regions. The onion is most frequently a biennial or a perennial plant, the onion plant has a fan of hollow, bluish-green leaves and its bulb at the base of the plant begins to swell when a certain day-length is reached. The bulbs are composed of shortened, compressed, underground stems surrounded by fleshy modified scale that envelop a central bud at the tip of the stem, in the autumn, the foliage dies down and the outer layers of the bulb become dry and brittle. The crop is harvested and dried and the onions are ready for use or storage, the crop is prone to attack by a number of pests and diseases, particularly the onion fly, the onion eelworm, and various fungi cause rotting. Some varieties of A. cepa, such as shallots and potato onions, Onions are cultivated and used around the world. As a food item, they are served cooked, as a vegetable or part of a prepared savoury dish. They are pungent when chopped and contain certain chemical substances which irritate the eyes, the onion plant, also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is the most widely cultivated species of the genus Allium. It was first officially described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1753 work Species Plantarum, a. cepa is known exclusively from cultivation, but related wild species occur in Central Asia. The most closely related species include A. vavilovii and A. asarense from Iran, however, Zohary and Hopf state that there are doubts whether the A. vavilovii collections tested represent genuine wild material or only feral derivatives of the crop. The vast majority of cultivars of A. cepa belong to the common onion group and are referred to simply as onions. The Aggregatum group of cultivars includes both shallots and potato onions, the genus Allium also contains a number of other species variously referred to as onions and cultivated for food, such as the Japanese bunching onion, Egyptian onion, and Canada onion. The onion plant has grown and selectively bred in cultivation for at least 7,000 years. It is a plant, but is usually grown as an annual. Modern varieties typically grow to a height of 15 to 45 cm, the leaves are yellowish- to bluish green and grow alternately in a flattened, fan-shaped swathe. They are fleshy, hollow, and cylindrical, with one flattened side and they are at their broadest about a quarter of the way up, beyond which they taper towards a blunt tip. The base of leaf is a flattened, usually white sheath that grows out of a basal disc
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