Moroccan Cuisine

Moroccan food has been on our list of favorite ethnic foods for a long time and going there was a great chance to try all the traditional dishes we enjoy.

We definitely enjoyed the real couscous rather than the yellowish stuff that comes in a box, with directions on the side of the box to add water and wait 3 minutes. The real couscous is fine, pale, grain-sized hand-rolled pasta lightly steamed with aromatic broth and served with vegetables and meat.

We noticed that they prefer to use certain ingredients such as saffron, cumin and ginger and tons of yellow food coloring.

With a clay pot that has a conical lid and fresh vegetables, Moroccans can cook amazing “Tajines” (stew) which can be found throughout the country, although each region has a specific way of doing it or certain ingredients that are typical to the area.

We found each city we visited to have culinary influences from other countries and this made things even more interesting. In Essaouira they had Portuguese and Jewish influence, in Fes it was Andalucian and Persian, in Marrakesh from Senegal, France, Italian and Berber and in Chefchaouen, Andalucian and Turkish.

Morocco has plenty of places where you can snack. Street vendors line up and offer you exotic foods such as snails, sheep heads with boiled brains or tongues, there is plenty of ice-cream (gelato style) and delicious fresh fruit juice stands where you can grab some vitamin C on the go.

One of the pleasant surprises was that for the first time in this trip we found very good local wine. Although buying it to go was quite an adventure at times due to the fact that Morocco is a Muslim country. We definitely enjoyed sharing a glass of wine with other travelers or a few locals that could drink alcoholic beverages.

Just like in other Arab counties we had our good share of kebabs, kofta, shwarma, brochettes, etc. But we also found places like Asilah, on the coast, so close to Spain, where they make amazing paellas and Spanish tortillas, two of our favorite dishes in the whole world. We found the food to be very fresh and with no chemicals or preservatives.

All I can say is that there is no way you can go hungry in Morocco!

Gaby