Morocco Information: Cuisine

Moroccan cuisine has long been considered as one of the most diversified and best cuisines in the world. It is carefully and artistically prepared and served and joyfully enjoyed. The food is largely diversified because of the history behind Morocco. It is a mix of native Berber, Arabic Andalusian, Middle Eastern, Mediterranean, and Turkish and Jewish cuisines.

Popular dishes :

Brochette (kebab): Kebabs served in Moorish marinade, fast & economical

Couscous: Seminola grain, the traditional family lunch

Mechoui: Lamb roasted on barbecue

Pastilla: A very fine flaky pastry stuffed with pigeons and almonds.

Tagine: Morocco’s traditional national dish

Morocco produces a large range of Mediterranean fruits and vegetables and even some tropical ones. The country produces large quantities of sheep, poultry, cattle, seafood, and fish as the base for its cuisine.

Spices are used extensively in Moroccan food. While spices have been imported to Morocco for thousands of years, many ingredients are home grown, like saffron from Tiliouine, mint and olives from Meknes, oranges and lemons from Fez. Common spices include cinnamon, kamoun (cumin), kharkoum (tumeric), skingbir (ginger), libzar (pepper), paprika, anis seed, sesame seed, kasbour (coriander), maadnous (parsley), zaafrane beldi (saffron) and mint.

The most popular drink is green tea with mint. Traditionally, making good mint tea in Morocco is considered an art form and the drinking of it with friends and family members is one of the important traditional rituals of the day. The technique of pouring the tea is as crucial as the quality of the tea. The tea is accompanied with hard sugar cones or lumps. Moroccan teapots have long, curved pouring spouts, allowing the tea to be poured even into tiny glasses from a height. For the optimum taste, glasses are filled in two stages.

The main meal is eaten in the middle of the day, except for the holy month of Ramadan. The typical formal meal starts with a large bowl of hot and cold salads placed in the middle of the table, followed by “tagine”. Bread and olives are normally served with every meal. Following next is normally couscous with meats and vegetables. Moroccan usually use their right hand fingers to eat, instead of a utensil.