Tagine and Tea - Food of Morocco
Updated: Aug 18
One of the things I was most excited for when visiting Morocco was the food. I LOVE to eat lol. I am not a very picky eater and enjoy trying new cuisines and experiencing different flavors for the first time. Morocco was a perfect place for me to have a gastronomical journey.
Morocco is famous for several types of food, but probably one of the most well-known is tagine. Tagine is a slow-cooked savory stew that is cooked in a distinctive, cone-shaped earthenware pot. Tagines can have lots of different styles, but most tagines are renowned for tender meats, aromatic spices, and rich sauces. When cooking, the shape of the pot and the unique lid design traps and recirculates steam to self-baste the food which results in some of the most delicious food I have ever tasted.
Another staple Moroccan dish is couscous, which is traditionally eaten on Fridays. Couscous is a dish made of tiny semolina granules that are cooked with vegetables such as onion, garlic, and root vegetables such as potatoes or carrots. Oftentimes, couscous will also have some sort of meat such as beef, lamp, chicken. Similarly to other Moroccan dishes, couscous is full of flavors and warm spices such as cumin, cinnamon, turmeric, and paprika. Spice is a huge part of Moroccan cuisine and most dishes also contain Ras el Hanout, which is a complex, aromatic spice blend that often contains dozens of spices such as coriander, clove, pepper, ginger, turmeric, garlic, paprika, cumin, and more. While in Safi, my host teacher’s wife collected several fresh spices and helped us to create our own Ras el Hanout to bring home with us!
No matter what you are eating or what time you are eating, Moroccan meals are always accompanied by traditional mint tea that often contains a lot of sugar. Tea in Morocco is an art form in itself. From the selection of the tea and mint leaves, to the type of sugar used, and even the material of the tea pot can influence the taste of the tea. In addition, when one is pouring the tea, it is customary to hold the tea pot high above the cups to create a long stream of tea. It is said that the longer the stream of the tea, the more respect the tea pourer is showing to the person drinking the tea.
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