Basma and Nour face bullying and difficulty finding suitable food in restaurants because they are vegetarians. However, according to them, they still recommend the vegan experience and reconsidering animal product consumption to preserve health, the environment, and biodiversity.

On a comfortable cushioned sofa adjacent to a window overlooking 62 Street in Al-Karrada district in central Baghdad, Basma Al-Mashat (seventeen-years-old) sits with her family, reading the menu of one of the street’s luxurious restaurants. Basma thought she would easily find a meal that suited her diet, given that the restaurant offers a wide selection for its customers, but she was mistaken. Ultimately, she went with her only option, which was a salad and some appetisers that were free of animal products.  

Five years ago, Basma stopped eating red and white meat, as she found its taste and smell unpleasant, and she preferred food made from vegetables, legumes, and grain. She repeatedly tried incorporating meat into her diet, but finally she refused to be forced to eat what she disliked and decided to stop eating it once and for all.  

Despite her decision, she kept trying to understand why she could not tolerate meat, until she discovered that there are scientific reasons behind it, and that many others also share the same sensitivities.  

Basma is one of the vegetarians in Iraq who cannot find suitable and varied food in public places and faces constant ridicule and bullying daily. At the restaurant, she asked the waiter if they served vegetarian dishes, and after giving her a look of surprise and confusion, he hesitantly said, “no, unfortunately”.  

After finishing their family dinner and before leaving, Basma went to the manager to ask why there were no vegetarian dishes on the menu. The manager told her that restaurants do not provide these dishes due to their low demand and because they were not as profitable as traditional dishes and fast food that contain meat or animal products. He also informed her that the restaurant serves meat-free dishes like falafel, vegetable lasagne and vegetable pizza. However, these dishes may not be enough for some vegetarians. 

Five categories 

Vegetarians are classified into five categories. The first is the vegan, which includes people who do not consume meat, poultry, fish, and all animal products, including eggs, dairy products, and gelatine. The second category is the lacto-ovo vegetarian and includes those who do not eat meat, poultry, or fish but can consume eggs and dairy products. The third is the lacto-vegetarian, which includes people who do not eat meat, poultry, fish, or eggs but consume milk and its products. The fourth category is the ovo-vegetarian, which includes those who eat eggs but not meat, poultry, fish, or dairy products. While the fifth category is the pesce-pollotarian, and includes those who eat fish, poultry, eggs, and milk but do not eat red meat. 

Basma belongs to the first category. She did not order lasagne or pizza because they included cheese, and she had overeaten opted for falafel on too many occasions and did not want to order it again. “I ordered a salad and hummus with tahini as I know their ingredients. They contain no animal products”, she told Jummar. 

“For my health” 

People choose vegetarian diets for several reasons, which could be for health, ethical, religious, or economic considerations, as well as motives related to food preference. Some believe vegetarian food is healthy, while others believe killing and eating animals is inhumane. Some people are forced to refrain from buying meat, poultry, and fish as they are more expensive than plant-based foods. And some religions around the world prohibit eating certain types of meat, but their adherents are rare or non-existent in Iraq. 

Nour (sixteen-years-old) is one of those who follow a vegetarian diet for its health benefits. She faces the same difficulties as Basma in finding vegan food in restaurants, so she only orders light dishes made of plant-based ingredients whenever she is at a restaurant. 

Omar Al-Badrani, an official from the Iraqi Chefs Association, confirms that the country still lacks restaurants specialised in vegetarian dishes, except for a limited number in the Kurdistan region.  

Nour complains about being constantly bullied. Whenever she tells someone she is vegetarian, she is accused of faking sophistication and being pretentious, giving her a sense of isolation. “As for my family, they show exaggerated fear about my health because I never eat meat or animal products”, she told us.  

Shomous Ghanem, a health awareness and vegetarianism activist, gives a briefing that dispels the health concerns fostered by Nour’s family. Ghanem closely followed the reports of international health organisations during the intensification of the Covid pandemic and found that vegetarians have stronger immunity compared to others, which made them less likely to catch the virus or develop its complications. She says that demand for vegetarian food increased after 2020 due to people’s fear of other pandemics. Ghanem also touched upon other reports and studies by the United Nations and other international organisations, stating that relying on plant-based food as a primary source of nutrition is very beneficial for the environment and fighting climate change.  

Nutritionist Farah Abdel-Salam agrees that vegetarian food is good for health. She points out that plant-based food is better because it is low in saturated fats and cholesterol and rich in fibre, vitamins, and unsaturated fats, all of which have significant health benefits. “On the other hand, animal foods are full of saturated fats and cholesterol, which cause damage to health”, she told Jummar. Farah adds that vegetarians are less likely to develop diabetes, blood pressure, colon and digestive system diseases, arthritic pain, kidney diseases, and cancer. Regarding fears that plant-based food lacks the necessary elements for the body, Farah explains that vegetarians need special and balanced meals by mixing them to reach complete nutritional enrichment. She mentions falafel as an example. 

“Falafel is a rich and complete meal that substitutes meat”, said Farah, pointing out that some legumes contain large amounts of protein and produce high-protein meals when mixed with other food. With regards to vitamin B12, iodine, calcium, iron, zinc, and vitamin D, Farah found that plants have low levels of these elements, or they are mixed with other minerals, making them difficult for the body to break down, which requires taking nutritional supplements or vitamin tablets to compensate for their deficiency. 

Low demand 

Although the influx of vegetarian customers is no longer rare, restaurants are not yet prepared to meet their requests. Perhaps their numbers are still not encouraging restauranteurs to customise lists for them. According to the owner of a high-end restaurant in Baghdad, ten to fifteen vegetarian customers come to the restaurant daily. “Their ages often range between twenty and thirty years old, with a small group of elderly people who have diseases that prevent them from consuming meat”, he told Jummar.  

Supermarkets also seem uninterested in vegetarian products. Unlike in other countries, Iraqi customers struggle to find vegan burgers or cheese in shops and markets. Hussein Silwan, the owner of a Baghdad shopping centre, attributes this to the low demand for such products. He told Jummar that slimming products are currently popular due to their high purchase demand, while vegetarian products are yet to have the required demand to stimulate supply.  

While it is believed that adopting a vegetarian diet is unpopular because it is expensive and only suitable for high-income people, Al-Badran says that vegetarian dishes are usually cheaper than meat, poultry, and seafood fishes. Bashir Al-Saʿedi, an expert in economic affairs, supports this view. As a result of his observations, Al-Saʿedi identified areas of concentration of vegans in affluent neighbourhoods of Baghdad, but he does not link this to their purchasing power. “These people do not care about prices as much as they care about their health and new cultural trends. They see that a vegetarian diet is good for health, so they follow it”, he told Jummar. 

Despite the difficulties Basma and Nour face as vegetarians, they still recommend the vegan experience and reconsidering animal product consumption to preserve health, the environment, and biodiversity.