Kibbeh

Kibbeh is the great love of the inhabitants of the Fertile Crescent. It is the national dish of Syria and Lebanon, and Iraq boasts of dozens of koubba. There are innumerable versions of this family of dishes which epitomize the food of the area. Kibbeh is said to have been mentioned in ancient Assyrian and Sumerian writings and to have been served by King Ashur Nassir Bal II. Today the daily life of the people revolves around its preparation, a dramatic ritual. The pounding of the meat and wheat in a stone or metal mortar with a heavy metal pestle is a sound that wakens one in the morning and lulls one to sleep in the afternoon, a sound instantly provoked by the arrival of an unexpected guest or a ring of the door-bell.