Moroccan Food is Rockin'!

While in NYC, my boyfriend and I had a long discussion about Moroccan restaurants. The reality about Moroccan food seems to be that it's made best at home. Most restaurants, with very few exceptions, can't get it right. I think there are a couple of factors that add to that. First, what I just mentioned-- the whole home-based nature of the cuisine. Second is the lack of familiarity with real Moroccan cuisine. Hint: it does not involve hummus or pitas! Thus, most people can't really say "Hmm, I feel for Moroccan today," the way I feel for sushi on every day that ends with a "y". Moroccan food as I have experienced it traveling in Morocco (Casablanca, Fez, Tangier, Chefchaouen, Essaouria, and more) is more Mediterranean than I ever expected. The food I ate at homes in Fez and North Coast was unbelievably delicious and more akin to the types of things I have eaten in Nice or even Croatia than the type of Middle Eastern, Lebanese-style food most people assume you would get in a place with a strong Arabic culture. Just look at where Morocco sits on the map, though, and the truth about the food makes perfect sense.

And how's this for truth: it's freaking AMAZING FOOD. Once you get comfortable with the idea that there is one huge, artfully arranged plate in the center of the table which everyone reaches into (usually with the help of a chunk torn off the traditional round wheat bread) and eats from, usually unveiled with panache from underneath a giant clay tajin, you can really appreciate both the presentation and the fantastic, intense flavors and perfectly cooked meats and vegetables.

Some of the stuff I remember (because I'm an elephant when it comes to crazy good meals): turkey in the tajin with some kind of delicious, sizzling ginger sauce; all kinds of lamb so tender and flavorful that it felt like some kind of meat I had never had before, in all kinds of savory sauces like an amazing quince sauce I remember; fish in tomato-based sauce that was literally the best fish I've ever eaten, and probably the best tomato sauce, too. Every other bite had a chunk of the most intense tomatoey goodness you could imagine, yet somehow it didn't overpower the delicate and tender white fish. And of course there were lots of fresh and delicious vegetable salads, fresh mint everywhere stuffed in the super-sweet green verbena tea and mingling with veggies and sauces, fresh figs that break your heart they are so delicious and do wonders for your digestion, delicious flaky little cookies that taste like almonds.

Sipping mint-stuffed hot tea on a Fez rooftop.

And the couscous. Oh, the couscous! It is divine. Bright yellow, crumbly, flavorful, full of the most delicious broiled tomatoes and other veggies that you've ever tasted. At the ports we wandered through in a fishing area on the coast-- now THAT was an experience-- we sat at plastic tables and ate piles of fresh grilled sardines. You could look them in the eye as you ate, but it didn't stop me from devouring the little guys-- salty, crusty, flaky and not in the least bit fishy or greasy.

I was a complete mess at the end as we ate with our hands, but I would do it again in a heartbeat.


And of course, the beautiful Coke cans in Arabic were pretty sweet. I'm a sucker, I took a photo.

I am a big believer in traveling to places just for gastronomic experiences. Someday I'll write about my road trip through Belgium, brewery and monastery hopping all for the love of beer-- another tale for another time. There are some quite fine Moroccan wines, though many of the locals don't drink them for obvious reasons. Even without a glass at dinner, though, the meals I had could not have been more divine. They're on my mind now as I'll be visiting again the first week of August. I will be sure to share all the delectable finds this time around with all of you readers!

:-p