Morocco is a food lover’s haven. Feast your senses on a wide array of vegetable or meat-based dishes made using local ingredients and recipes dating back generations. Beyond the deliciousness, though, food is integral to social interaction and building community.
Here’s a selection of the tastiest flavours and dishes to look out for, as well as the traditions that accompany them.
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*This is a collaborative post. Tagines and slow-cooked classics
Tagines are a huge part of food culture in Morocco. They’re slow-cooked dishes, typically combining meat, vegetables and aromatic spices. This style of cooking is rooted in indigenous Berber traditions and involves a conical clay pot designed to trap the steam and continuously drop the condensed liquid back into the ingredients. This ensures the meat stays extremely tender.
Often, people add dried fruit like dates or apricots into the mix to provide additional sweetness. Meals like tagines are usually placed in the centre of the table so everyone can share the goodness, combining it with cous cous or fresh pieces of khobz (bread).
Street food in Marrakech & Fes
Marrakech is one of the leading tourism destinations in Africa, so it isn’t surprising that a vast amount of street food exists in the markets and medinas here. You can hunt out one-of-a-kind dishes cooked fresh by local vendors. Passing the sizzling stalls and rolling carts in the souks here is a real experience.
Meanwhile, Fes is widely celebrated as the culinary capital. It’s especially known for its Fassi cuisine, which marries sweet and savoury flavours paired with wonderful spices that bring it all to life. Like in Marrakech and many other urban areas in Morocco, you can try various interpretations at street stalls, plus plenty of other quick bites such as savoury pastries and grilled meats.
It’s no wonder that UK visitors take trips to Morocco so they can experience authentic versions of these culinary delights themselves. After all, eating in historic medinas is a huge part of the experience.
Spices and flavour foundations
Flavour is everything in modern cuisine – and complex spice blends are often part of the secret. Popular examples include ras el hanout, cumin and cinnamon. Paying attention to this element while cooking helps to create more depth and warmth in dishes. It’s a big part of cementing the national cooking style and standing out amongst other cuisines. The best way to familiarise yourself with these cooking methods is to have a go yourself.
Moroccan sweets and mint tea culture
Although most visitors picture rich, savoury dishes like tagines, pastilla or couscous, sweet treats receive just as much attention in Morocco. Traditional desserts include delicate textures and flavours, ranging from honey to sesame seeds. Think almond-based pastries and orange blossom cake, which offer a much lighter touch to dessert time compared to others enjoyed around the world.
Then, of course, people typically enjoy Moroccan mint tea on either side of a meal. Not only is it delicious, but it’s also used to aid digestion. This iconic drink forms an important aspect of social gatherings by bringing people together.
*Disclaimer – This is a collaborative post. This post has been pre-written.
