By Ahmed Saeed and Alaa al-Marjani
SAMAWA DESERT, Iraq (Reuters) – “Here it is, the truffle, a blessing from God!” Zahra Buheir carefully digs a desert truffle out of the sandy earth and points it between her sensitive fingers.
“Rain came and then brought thunder and truffles to the surface,” the 72-year-old said.
Buheir and her family of seven spent the harsh weather in the southern desert of Iraq, as well as backward landmines, searching for weeks for the seasonal truffles that have been providing them with generations of income.
Iraq’s desert truffle is taking its hunters up to $ 7 per kilogram cheaper this year than its rarer European cousins, which can cost hundreds of dollars or more per kilogram.
But with Iraq’s economy in crisis, local diversity is a huge help to Buheir and her family.
This year the rain came late and Buheir could only find about a kilo of truffles a day, a tenth of what she would dig up in a good year.
Buheir’s granddaughter, five-year-old Riyam, turned her stones and stabbed the earth with her bare hands.
“If there are no jobs, truffles are a source of income. And we are happy here,” said Riyam’s father, Mohsen Farhan. He cherishes the weeks he spends with his family in their tent in the desert.
Hunting for truffles these days also involves understanding the dangers of the desert.
“We are afraid of wolves, there are many here. And there are mine. Some time ago someone died,” Farhan said.
Remains of the Gulf War in 1991, unexploded ordnance underground, can be confused by the inexperienced eye as truffles.
Every few days, Hussein Abu Ali drives into the desert from the city of Samawa to take the truffles to market.
There, Ali Tajj al-Din sells them at auction, each with a different name according to size.
“It’s walnuts, eggs, oranges, and here’s the pomegranate, the biggest one,” he said.
This year, prices have barely pushed up and truffles not sold locally are being exported to richer Gulf countries.
But customers at Samawa’s restaurant “Beit al-Hatab” enjoy the weekly truffle specialty.
“We fry or fry it, but the favorite dish is truffles on rice,” said Fawwaz Hatab, restaurant owner.
(Written by Charlotte Bruneau; edited by Giles Elgood)