Explore the page to find more information!
At the fish-stall
Sumer has marshes and lagoons, rivers and the sea, so the fish are plentiful. They belong to the Sumerian daily diet since the start of time! Sumerians are excellent fishermen. They have an extraordinary diversity of fish, both from saltwater and freshwater. Shellfish also are abundant, amongst them shrimps, small crabs and crayfish.
Cooking fish!
ú.lal the ‘honey-plant’
Crazy about shrimps?
Agargara?
No. Fancy a kušu-soup?
Marinated gubi-fish?
Where to eat the suhur.maš-fish?
Get the Essential Guide today!
Fish snacks!
A lot more about the Sumerian diet in the Essential Guide!
On the Sumerian menu
Feasting is essential in the Sumerian culture, so they have good cooks, famous, sometimes surprising, dishes and nice restaurants for tourists. Sumerians have a large choice of ingredients, many vegetables and pulses, various meats, plenty of fish, and lots of spices to enhance their recipes.
At the fish stall
Yummy desserts!
Drinks
Dairy products
Sumerian specials
A vegetarian paradise!
Spices
At the bakery
Meat and poultry
From the garden: fruits and vegetables
The daily diet
Cereals
Where to eat the suhur.maš-fish?
The suhur-maš-fish is a huge carp, easy to fish in the marshes. But it is also Enki’s “pet”. For that reason, people from Eridu do not eat it – it is completely taboo. But people from Lagaš love it; they grill the whole fish without cutting it and serve it in a huge dish with sesame oil and a garlic sauce. It is one of the most famous dishes in Lagaš, which infuriates the Eridish!
Marinated gubi-fish?
If you go to the night fishing-party in Eridu, they will offer you some gubi-fishes to take home, marinated in pomegranate juice in a small, sealed jug. The taste is interesting. You may not like it, but it will certainly surprise your guests in a return dinner.
Fancy a visit to Eridu?
Carp or dried fish?
The fish stalls’ menus can be confusing: if you point at the suhur-sign that you have proudly learned, you may get unknown small, dried fishes on your plate, instead of a carp! The cuneiform sign is the same for both… Yes, cuneiform can be tricky…
Choosing your fish on the menu often is "mission impossible"! They look to us like coded messages.
You may just pick a name (rather a cuneiform sign) and see what you get! It is an interesting experience if you like surprises! The other solution is to point the fish you want on the stall.
A few keys to the fish-menu.
Cooking fish!
Sumerian cooks are very inventive when it comes to fish. They cook fish stews or fish soups a lot, but they know many other ways to prepare them: fresh, dried and salted, smoked, grilled.
Would you fancy a kušu-soup?
In general, Sumerians will not tell you precisely all the ingredients they put in a fish soup or stew, even not the main ingredient sometimes! You may be reluctant to taste them if you like to know precisely what enters in the composition of your dish!
The kušu-soup that you find in many places, probably is the most mysterious one. Even Sumerians disagree on what kušu is! A fish? A crab? The name does not refer to the same water-creature everywhere. Martu-people even pretend it is a crocodile!!
Taste the best kušu-soup at Šu-Enki’s, in Eridu
Dairy products
Dairies are common in Sumer: ewes, cows and goats are all milked. But fresh milk, cream and butter do not keep well, so that sour milk is more common. They churned sour milk into butter or buttermilk, but common people prefer longer-lasting ghee. All are used in stews, cakes or breads, but sesame oil remains the daily fat for ordinary people. They have different kinds of dried goat cheese, and they prepare soft cheese and labneh (a kind of yoghurt) with curd milk. If you mix it with date or fig syrup, you obtain a nice dessert.
Take a tour to a Sumerian dairy!
Choosing your fish at the stall
The most difficult is identifying the fish you eat! Fresh water fish like carps (suhur), eels (gubi) and catfish are usually easy to recognise on the stalls. The most common saltwater fish in city markets are sea-bream and grunter-fish, as they are easy to catch. Exceptionally, you can see a barracuda on a stall in Ur or Lagaš!
ú.lal the ‘honey-plant’
it is some kind of (very) sweet algae that grows in abundance in the marshes. You will find it on all tables in Eridu and Lagaš: it can be a bit sickening. You will probably love it or hate it!
Fish-eggs agargara
They are common as nibbles in Eridu and Lagaš, where you can have them with bread and labneh any time of the day. But they are rare delicacies in Uruk or Nippur.
Fish snacks and mushy peas!
Sumerians are fond of whitebaits (ku6 tur.tur) that they eat at any time of the day: they are sold in little cups. I love it. They are often sold with mushy peas! Delicious!
Crazy about shrimps?
They are called “locust of the sea” (buru5a.ab.ba) and are very popular in Ur and Lagaš, because they are easy to catch in the Lower Sea (the Persian Gulf). Fishermen often bring back dozens of baskets full of shrimps.
If you go to Lagaš harbour when they arrive, you can eat plenty of them for cheap. They put the rest to dry in the sun before transporting them. Dried shrimps in Nippur and Uruk markets can be expensive.
At the fish-stall
Marie Besnier
Created on March 2, 2026
Start designing with a free template
Discover more than 1500 professional designs like these:
View
Urban Illustrated Presentation
View
3D Corporate Reporting
View
Discover Your AI Assistant
View
Vision Board
View
SWOT Challenge: Classify Key Factors
View
Explainer Video: Keys to Effective Communication
View
Explainer Video: AI for Companies
Explore all templates
Transcript
Explore the page to find more information!
At the fish-stall
Sumer has marshes and lagoons, rivers and the sea, so the fish are plentiful. They belong to the Sumerian daily diet since the start of time! Sumerians are excellent fishermen. They have an extraordinary diversity of fish, both from saltwater and freshwater. Shellfish also are abundant, amongst them shrimps, small crabs and crayfish.
Cooking fish!
ú.lal the ‘honey-plant’
Crazy about shrimps?
Agargara?
No. Fancy a kušu-soup?
Marinated gubi-fish?
Where to eat the suhur.maš-fish?
Get the Essential Guide today!
Fish snacks!
A lot more about the Sumerian diet in the Essential Guide!
On the Sumerian menu
Feasting is essential in the Sumerian culture, so they have good cooks, famous, sometimes surprising, dishes and nice restaurants for tourists. Sumerians have a large choice of ingredients, many vegetables and pulses, various meats, plenty of fish, and lots of spices to enhance their recipes.
At the fish stall
Yummy desserts!
Drinks
Dairy products
Sumerian specials
A vegetarian paradise!
Spices
At the bakery
Meat and poultry
From the garden: fruits and vegetables
The daily diet
Cereals
Where to eat the suhur.maš-fish?
The suhur-maš-fish is a huge carp, easy to fish in the marshes. But it is also Enki’s “pet”. For that reason, people from Eridu do not eat it – it is completely taboo. But people from Lagaš love it; they grill the whole fish without cutting it and serve it in a huge dish with sesame oil and a garlic sauce. It is one of the most famous dishes in Lagaš, which infuriates the Eridish!
Marinated gubi-fish?
If you go to the night fishing-party in Eridu, they will offer you some gubi-fishes to take home, marinated in pomegranate juice in a small, sealed jug. The taste is interesting. You may not like it, but it will certainly surprise your guests in a return dinner.
Fancy a visit to Eridu?
Carp or dried fish?
The fish stalls’ menus can be confusing: if you point at the suhur-sign that you have proudly learned, you may get unknown small, dried fishes on your plate, instead of a carp! The cuneiform sign is the same for both… Yes, cuneiform can be tricky…
Choosing your fish on the menu often is "mission impossible"! They look to us like coded messages.
You may just pick a name (rather a cuneiform sign) and see what you get! It is an interesting experience if you like surprises! The other solution is to point the fish you want on the stall.
A few keys to the fish-menu.
Cooking fish!
Sumerian cooks are very inventive when it comes to fish. They cook fish stews or fish soups a lot, but they know many other ways to prepare them: fresh, dried and salted, smoked, grilled.
Would you fancy a kušu-soup?
In general, Sumerians will not tell you precisely all the ingredients they put in a fish soup or stew, even not the main ingredient sometimes! You may be reluctant to taste them if you like to know precisely what enters in the composition of your dish!
The kušu-soup that you find in many places, probably is the most mysterious one. Even Sumerians disagree on what kušu is! A fish? A crab? The name does not refer to the same water-creature everywhere. Martu-people even pretend it is a crocodile!!
Taste the best kušu-soup at Šu-Enki’s, in Eridu
Dairy products
Dairies are common in Sumer: ewes, cows and goats are all milked. But fresh milk, cream and butter do not keep well, so that sour milk is more common. They churned sour milk into butter or buttermilk, but common people prefer longer-lasting ghee. All are used in stews, cakes or breads, but sesame oil remains the daily fat for ordinary people. They have different kinds of dried goat cheese, and they prepare soft cheese and labneh (a kind of yoghurt) with curd milk. If you mix it with date or fig syrup, you obtain a nice dessert.
Take a tour to a Sumerian dairy!
Choosing your fish at the stall
The most difficult is identifying the fish you eat! Fresh water fish like carps (suhur), eels (gubi) and catfish are usually easy to recognise on the stalls. The most common saltwater fish in city markets are sea-bream and grunter-fish, as they are easy to catch. Exceptionally, you can see a barracuda on a stall in Ur or Lagaš!
ú.lal the ‘honey-plant’
it is some kind of (very) sweet algae that grows in abundance in the marshes. You will find it on all tables in Eridu and Lagaš: it can be a bit sickening. You will probably love it or hate it!
Fish-eggs agargara
They are common as nibbles in Eridu and Lagaš, where you can have them with bread and labneh any time of the day. But they are rare delicacies in Uruk or Nippur.
Fish snacks and mushy peas!
Sumerians are fond of whitebaits (ku6 tur.tur) that they eat at any time of the day: they are sold in little cups. I love it. They are often sold with mushy peas! Delicious!
Crazy about shrimps?
They are called “locust of the sea” (buru5a.ab.ba) and are very popular in Ur and Lagaš, because they are easy to catch in the Lower Sea (the Persian Gulf). Fishermen often bring back dozens of baskets full of shrimps.
If you go to Lagaš harbour when they arrive, you can eat plenty of them for cheap. They put the rest to dry in the sun before transporting them. Dried shrimps in Nippur and Uruk markets can be expensive.