But in a gruesome twist to the war, the country’s national dish is under threat because even the most devoted fish- lovers are concerned about what else lurks beneath the green waters of the ancient river.Abu Ayyad, 55, comes from a family of Tigris fishermen. His father fished the waters in Baghdad, as did his grandfather and, he believes, generations before that. Now, though, he is reduced to preparing and serving farmed carp because the public refuses to eat fish taken from the river. “Personally, I still think the river fish is the best, but because of the situation few of my customers will touch it,” said the masgouf seller, who runs a grotty roadside stall in Baghdad’s Jadriyeh neighborhood.
By the “situation” he means that so many bodies have been dumped in the river during the sectarian blood-letting that has divided the capital that residents do not go near the water. They would certainly not consume what comes out of it, particularly the large fish that feed off the Tigris riverbed.
Some Islamic religious leaders have even issued fatwas, declaring that fish caught in the river are unclean and unfit for human consumption.
“I still like to eat fish once a week, but it is not quite the same as before,” said Ali, a regular customer, who stopped by Abu Ayyad’s stall on Tuesday to select a fish for cooking and then returned later to pick it up for his family’s lunch. “We have only been eating farmed fish for the past year.” Richard Beeston © The Times
Benzer Haberler 
World
