By Al-Fassel and AFP | 2023-10-03

MOSUL -- Abir Jassem is busy preparing stuffed vegetables at a kitchen in the northern Iraq city of Mosul, where after years of unrest a women-run catering service has helped single mothers like her achieve financial security.

The 37-year-old, who lost her husband while the city was under the control of the "Islamic State of Iraq and Syria" (ISIS), said she had to get a job to put food on the table for herself and her children.

"If I didn't work, we wouldn't have anything to eat," said Jassem.

She is now one of some 30 employees of "Taste of Mosul," which celebrates local delicacies and was founded in 2017 after the city was liberated from ISIS.

Mosul once served as the extremist group's de facto capital. Once known for its religious and cultural diversity, the Ninawa province city suffered deeply under its brutal three-year occupation, and reconstruction is still under way.

This includes efforts to restore the morale and character of the city, which includes rebuilding mosques, churches and century-old houses as part of its "Revive the Spirit of Mosul" initiative.

"Taste of Mosul" is at the vanguard of a culinary revival, as well as providing employment for women, who were oppressed and silenced during ISIS's rule.

Most of the workers at the catering business -- cooks as well as two delivery women -- are widowed or divorced.

For Jassem, whose husband died of hepatitis, the business has offered a lifeline.

Her family had refused to allow her to work in any mixed-gender spaces, "but I wanted to work so I would not have to depend on anybody," she said.

Now she earns 15,000 IQD ($11) a day cooking meals that are then delivered to clients.

Her speciality is Mosul-style kibbeh, a minced meat dish.

"Neither Syrians nor Lebanese can make" some of the recipes her city is known for, Jassem boasted, as other women sat beside her at a large blue table were preparing the day's menu.

One cook rolled vine leaves. Another copiously stuffed hollowed-out peppers with orange-colored rice, and a third made meat fritters.

'Strong women'

Only slightly more than 10% of Iraq's 13 million women of working age are in the job market, according to a July 2022 report issued by the International Labor Organization.

When ISIS was ousted from Mosul in the summer of 2017, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimated the number of "war widows" in the thousands.

"Their husbands were often the families' sole breadwinners," UNHCR said.

"Without an income and often with children to support, Mosul's war widows are among the most vulnerable to have been displaced during months of fighting for the once thriving city."

Mahiya Youssef, 58, started "Taste of Mosul" to allow women to enter the labor market in the battered city.

"We have to be realistic," she said. "If even people with university degrees are unemployed, I wondered what kind of work" would "let them cover their children's needs and be strong women."

Launched with just two cooks, the initiative has grown, and now also provides employment for young graduates, said Youssef, a married mother of five.

Appetizers and main dishes on the menu go for the equivalent of between $1 and $10, and monthly profits top $3,000, according to Youssef, who plans to expand.

She said she hopes to open a restaurant or create similar projects in other parts of Iraq.

'Unique flavors'

Youssef said her passion was "old recipes that restaurants don't make," such as hindiya, a spicy zucchini stew with kibbeh, or ouroug, fried balls of flour, meat and vegetables.

One of her employees, Makarem Abdel Rahman, lost her husband in 2004 when he was kidnapped by al-Qaeda elements.

The mother of two, now in her 50s, delivers food in her car, which she said has drawn some criticism.

"My children support me, but certain relatives are opposed" to her working, she said.

But Abdel Rahman hasn't let that stop her, and said she has found in "Taste of Mosul" a "second home."

Many clients order again, but some have become particularly loyal.

For more than two years, Taha Ghanem has ordered his lunch from "Taste of Mosul" two or three times a week.

"Because of our work, we are far from home," said the 28-year-old cafe owner.

"Sometimes we miss our home cooking, but we have this service," he said, hailing "the unique flavors" of Mosul's cuisine.