The famous fish dish eaten along the Tigris.
By Claudia Roden for MyJewishLearning
Reprinted with permission from The Book of Jewish Food: An Odyssey from Samarkand to New York, published by Knopf.
When
Jewish families in Baghdad had big parties like weddings, which usually
took place in the gardens of houses, they hired specialists to come and
prepare masgouf. The specialists were the boatmen (ballamchi) on the
river Tigris who brought in the fish every evening and cooked it on the
riverbank in Baghdad. When the boats came in at around 9:30 in the
evening, the boatmen went up to people sitting in the riverside cafes to
take orders and proceeded to clean and cook the fish on the bank. By
the time they were ready, the men in the cafes were drunk on arak and
beer. In the summer, the riverside was dotted with the flames of
brushwood fires against which were silhouetted the fish roasted upright.Among the happiest memories of Baghdad Jews are the picnic parties on the river Tigris. On hot summer nights, parties set out in the high‑prowed ballam (boats) with a supply of bread, fruit, and cold drinks, singing and playing the oud and tambourine.
The boatmen towed their catch behind by strings through the gills. They stopped upriver and started brushwood fires while they prepared the fish. They would cut the fish down the back, clean it, and rub it with salt. They hung each fish upright on four pointed stakes planted in the ground, cut side towards the fire, 14 inches (36 cm) from the fire, so that they cooked slowly while the topping of chopped onions and tomatoes was prepared with condiments and spices. When the fire burned down, the fish were put directly on the embers and covered by the juicy topping. For wedding parties in private gardens, the boatmen were hired to cook the fish in exactly the same way as they did on the riverbank.
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I
grew up eating lots of very traditional Italian-American lasagna, baked
ziti and anything else you could cover in homemade tomato sauce and
cheese. And I loved it – I mean who doesn’t!? Garfield the cat was even
one of my heroes growing up. I always appreciated his feisty-ness
towards his sibling (Odie), his appreciation of napping and of course
his love of lasagna.
These
aren’t punch lines to a fresh crop of Jewish jokes. They are real foods
that recently arrived on New York City’s food scene. And they are proof
of a sudden and strong movement among young cooks, mostly
Jewish-Americans, to embrace and redeem the foods of their forebears.
That’s why, at this moment in 21st-century New York, the cutting edge of
cuisine is the beet-heavy, cabbage-friendly, herring-loving diet of
19th-century Jews in Eastern Europe.
The
chefs and artisans behind these new enterprises are embracing the
quickly disappearing foods of their grandparents — blintzes and babka,
kasha and knishes — and jolting them back to strength with an infusion
of modern culinary ideas. Those foods became punch lines in the 1970s,
when the health consequences of a steady diet of meat, salt, bread and
cream became apparent, and when strong, smelly foods like garlic dill
pickles and herring with raw onion seemed dated, even embarrassing.
“Food rejection was part of the assimilation process,” said Devra Ferst,
editor of the food blog 
I am willing to bet that there
is no authentic Middle Eastern kitchen that doesn’t stock tahini paste.
There’s just no way to go without it, especially if you’re having a
seafood meal. Tahini sauce — made from tahini paste mixed with water,
lemon juice, spices, garlic and sometimes, yogurt — has become a staple
even in a lot of Western homes. What can tahini dressing not get
drizzled on? At least all these make the cut: salads, roasted
vegetables, stuffed vegetables, rice or quinoa, falafel, shawerma,
seafood (and I’m probably missing lots more). The best thing about
tahini is the smooth, nutty but mild taste, followed by the fact that it
pairs well with pretty much any savory food, and certain sweet ones as
well (halawa, anyone?). If you can get your hands on tahini made with
organic sesame seeds, it’s a quite nutritious dressing to boot! 
While
it's a relative newcomer to the American kitchen, having only been
introduced to the States in the past 20 years, this ancient Andean seed
has been an important food in South America for over 6000 years. A
member of the goosefoot family, which is also the family of beets, swiss
chard, lamb's quarters, spinach, and amaranth, quinoa is not
technically a grain, but can be used as one in cooking.Year-round,
quinoa is perfect for vegans, those with celiac, and anyone looking for a
change from rice. It's gluten-free and contains all of the essential
amino acids, making it a complete protein.