DR LAMEES IBRAHIM

It was a day like any other; an aeroplane landed in London carrying an excited young woman from Baghdad who was living her dream of taking up her place at King’s College Hospital Medical School, without realising that London would become her home for the next forty years and counting. After graduating with her PhD, Dr Lamees Ibrahim enjoyed an accomplished and varied career in medical science and teaching, both in the UK and abroad. Meanwhile, her four children were growing up in London enjoying Iraqi cuisine at the dinner table, with each dish enriched with tales about Lamees’s childhood and the country that she hoped to return to one day - a land that her children had never seen.

In 2004, after over a quarter of a century away, Lamees returned to Baghdad for a visit, where her few remaining family members welcomed her back to her old family home and into a world of memories of times past. Sadly, the vibrant and colourful life that Lamees remembered had been bludgeoned and eroded from years of sanctions and war. It was with a heavy heart that Lamees realised that her children would never be able to enjoy what she had experienced as a young girl growing up Iraq.

Upon her return to London, Lamees was saddened and troubled by this realisation so she decided to write something of a memoir for her children to enjoy, something that would capture the spirit of the Baghdad she fondly remembered so well. It dawned upon her that so many of her memories and cultural references were intrinsically tied to the rich cuisine of the land. And that is how THE IRAQI COOKBOOK was born - a living diary of a life which once was in a peaceful Iraq, elegantly packed with touching anecdotes, cultural explanations and historical notes associated with the country’s flavoursome dishes, reflecting the ancient civilisation and diverse population of the ‘land of two rivers.’ 

In 2021, Lamees published THE IRAQI VEGAN COOKBOOK, which is truly a first of its kind: written for vegans and non-vegans alike, this book is filled with traditional Iraqi favourites, as well as some completely new concepts, all made in a completely plant-based way, modernising this ancient and beautiful cuisine and making it accessible for a new generation of meat-free kitchens.