Once upon a time, I had a deadly meal in Kurdistan

I was honored and respected by a friend when she invited me over for dinner to have a taste of the most traditional Kurdish meal in Kurdistan; the “Sar-u-pe.” "Bloody me," I said to myself, "a head and legs?" Well, duh! This is what Sar-u-pe translates to in Kurdish. I joined the dinner table and sooner than later I was frightened to see them hammering the head of the animal hoping to break through the skull and grab a taste of the brain. I was more frightened to see the eye-ball falling out of the socket and grossed out to see them chopping up the tongue of the animal. 

The picture says it all

To the side, they laid out a few platters of intestines, nicely filled with a mixture of rice, almonds, spices, etc. The tripe was chopped into pieces and were turned into little pockets filled with the same rice mixture. 

The intestines filled with rice mix

pockets of tripes filled with mixture of rice, almonds, spices, etc. 

I did have the courage to join them and grabbed a taste of this deadly meal. Learning more about the fat and the grease content of this particular meal, I came to the conclusion that my life was going to end with a heart attack as a result of this meal. 


Sar-u-pe is a deadly but delicious, and by all means, the most popular, traditional dish in Kurdistan. If you want to honor a guest and show them the utmost hospitality, you prepare Sar-u-pe for them. Why? Because it takes days to prepare this meal, hence, it is usually cooked in the holiest days in Kurdistan. It is high in cholesterol, not unlike many of the other Kurdish foods. 


I shared my knowledge and observations of such a meal while hanging out with the family. “Such foods cause fatal conditions to humans and can even lead to early death. It is seriously bad for elderly people, especially for their hearts” I tried to explain. “I know it is bad for my health, but I am still young and my body can resist the negative effects from this high-cholesterol food,” said the husband. 


I am afraid that a lot of people who enjoy this meal fail to understand the long-term consequences of eating it. This is a deadly meal containing thousands of calories in the cholesterol count. People also fail to connect cholestrol to cardiac diseases. Cholesterol is the main cause of all long term cardiac issues such as angina, high blood pressure, acute coronary syndrome, etc. "We receive eight to 10 cardiac patients per day. Most of the cardiac diseases are caused by rich-in-cholesterol foods. This is from eating sar-u-pe, kebab and other foods with saturated fat in general," says Dr. Eza Nawzad Said at the coronary care unit in Jimhuri Hospital in Erbil city (1)


It is a fact that cardiac diseases are on the rise and the number one reason of most cardiac issues is from lack of exercise and an unhealthy diet in Kurdistan. We should demand a policy that promotes awareness and understanding about these deadly meals. We need to have some sort of awareness or dietary management programs incorporated in our community centers to educate people about a healthy diet. Prevention is the key to saving the dollar cost of any health care system. We should also build some movement-friendly parks to encourage walking or jogging among the public.


1. http://208.78.42.109/display-article.html?id=FBB357822C675C74DE32D1AC717EF0F5