Khirret

In his description of street foods in the markets of Baghdad in the 1920s, Abbas Baghdadi mentions in passing that amongst the foods that Jewish Baghdadi vendors used to sell was khirret, which he describes as dried yellow mud with no distinctive taste or smell. He says it is extracted from the roots of reeds, and is an exclusively Jewish food. Besides, in his chapter on feasts, he mentions that one of the foods Baghdadi Jews used to eat for the joyous festival of Purim in March was khirret (Baghdad fi’l‘Ishreenat).