Delving into the flavours of Marrakech
Munch the delicacies of Marrakech with The Business Standard
One of the things we enjoy most during our travels – and at home as well – is food from all over the world. Food is also one of the reasons (amongst many others!) that Morocco was always a bucket list destination for us.
During our 10 year wedding anniversary trip to Morocco, we took our first ever tour with the Marrakech Food Tours.
Run by Amanda and Youssef, a couple who have made it their mission to bring the real food of Marrakech to tourists, the tour lasts for three hours.
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They provide two tours a day, one at 1pm and then another at 6pm. We opted for the day tour, and met them at a designated spot at Djemaa el-Fnaa. The tour, which costs $60 per person, is free for children under the age of two. This includes all food and drinks, and any tips required.
After a brief introduction, we started making our way through the square and onwards to the souks where Youssef, who was born and raised in Marrakech, started to tell us about different food artisans and cultures.
Our first food stop was the famous Marrakechi tradition – Tangia. The word means both an urn-shaped terracotta cooking vessel, as well as the name of the lamb stew slow cooked in it.
You eat the lamb stew with "khobz" (Moroccan bread) and we got to drink delicious mint tea with it. After this lovely meal, we set off for our next stop, which was stalls of different kinds of tea and olives.
I love olives and it was wonderful to try the different kinds, each had its own distinct taste and texture. We learned about pickled lemons and how they make it and add it as flavouring to many of their dishes.
Our next stop was this tiny local food stall where I ate my most favourite item of the day. The name of the dish is "hout mquari" and the ingredients are fish 'meatballs', raw onions, fresh tomato sauce, harissa and smen (Moroccan aged butter). It was delicious!
Then we went inside this bakery where they make khobz in big stone ovens. Nowadays, besides supplying to households, the bakeries also supply bread to the hotels and supermarkets.
We walked through this ordinary doorway which you would never imagine leads to a bakery! Inside, there was a man in front of a huge oven, and he was putting the dough in and out with a large paddle.
After the bakery visit, we went to this lovely café, highly recommended on Trip Advisor for great home cooked meals. I had the best vegetarian tagine as the main course, which was served in a large bowl and shared between people. Before digging into the tagine, we had bread with a sweet pepper mash. Lots of mint tea to go with it all, it was a lovely meal indeed.
Our final stop was a local sweet shop where we tasted different sweets, biscuits, and a smoothie with avocado and almond. I had the orange and mango juice but found it a bit too pulpy. The biscuits were nice, but nothing out of the ordinary.
We are quite adventurous with food in general and are happy to try street food from most places. Thanks to having street food in Bangladesh, our stomachs can really take a lot, and the kids are great with trying new things as well.
We were definitely in a food coma after our three hours food galore with the Marrakech Food Tours. You can find out recipes for most of the food described here on the website Marocmama.
The Selim family loves travelling around the world. With their children Shahaar and Shama, Samiya and Ashique have travelled to more than 21 countries, and they do not plan on stopping! The Selim family travel blogs are available at selimsraasta.com
