Moroccan Food Culture: Tagine, Couscous, Harira and Mint Tea

The foundations of Moroccan cuisine are tagine, slow-cooked in an earthenware pot; couscous, the traditional Friday dish; harira soup, a Ramadan staple; and sweet mint tea, served at any hour of the day. Dishes often use spices such as cumin, ginger, saffron and cinnamon, along with dried fruit, olives and preserved lemons; the meeting of sweet and savoury on the same plate is the most distinctive feature of Moroccan cuisine.

In Morocco, food is not just about filling up; it is the clearest expression of hospitality. Below we describe the dishes you will find on the table, table manners and street food.

Must-try dishes

Tagine

This is the name of both the dish and the earthenware pot with a conical lid in which it is cooked. The lid keeps the steam inside, cooking the meat and vegetables until tender in their own juices. The best-known varieties:

• Chicken tagine with preserved lemon and olives: A tangy, slightly salty flavour.
• Lamb tagine with prunes and almonds: The classic combination of sweet and savoury.
• Kefta tagine: Meatballs in tomato sauce, topped with an egg.

Tagine is usually eaten with bread, scooping up the sauce with a piece of bread instead of a spoon.

Couscous

It is made by steaming small grains of semolina and topped with a meat and vegetable sauce. In Morocco it is traditionally eaten with the family on Fridays after the midday prayer. Some versions also include caramelised onions and raisins.

Harira

A thick soup made with tomatoes, lentils, chickpeas and meat, flavoured with coriander and parsley. It is the first dish at the iftar table during Ramadan, but many restaurants serve it all year round. It is usually accompanied by dates and sweet pastries.

Pastilla

A pie of spiced chicken or pigeon, almonds and egg between thin layers of pastry. It is dusted with icing sugar and cinnamon. It is closely associated with the cuisine of Fez and is considered a dish for special occasions.

Bread and pastries

Round, flat Moroccan bread (khobz) is on every table. At breakfast, msemen, a layered flatbread, and baghrir, a spongy crêpe full of holes, are often served with honey and butter.

Mint tea: a ritual of hospitality

Brewed with green tea, plenty of fresh mint and sugar, mint tea is the symbol of hospitality in Morocco. You may be offered it when you enter a shop, when you are a guest in a home or when you are welcomed at a hotel. The tea is poured into the glass from a height to make it froth. It is good manners to accept the tea politely and take at least a sip.

Table manners

• Right hand: Use your right hand when eating from a shared dish and tearing bread.
• Bread instead of a fork: At traditional meals, bread is the tool for picking up food. Bread is treated with respect; people take care not to drop it on the floor or waste it.
• Eat from the part in front of you: When sharing a dish, it is polite to eat from the section in front of you.
• Hand washing: In traditional settings, a basin and ewer of water may be brought for washing hands before and after the meal.
• Alcohol: In Morocco, alcohol is only available in licensed hotels, restaurants and bars; drinking alcohol in the street is not appropriate.

Street food

The food stalls set up in the evenings on Marrakesh's Jemaa el-Fnaa square are the ideal place to see Morocco's street food all together: grilled meats, snail soup, boiled chickpeas, freshly squeezed orange juice and skewered meatballs. Choosing busy stalls with a high turnover helps ensure the food is fresh. Asking the price before you eat also makes things easier.

The souks also have shops selling dates, dried fruit, olives and spices. The spice blend called ras el hanout is one of the most typical gifts to take home.

Flavours along the route

• Marrakesh: Tanjia, slow-cooked in a clay pot, and the square's food stalls.
• Fez: Pastilla and the city's long-established culinary tradition.
• Casablanca and Tangier: Fish and seafood on the Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts.
• South of the Atlas and the edge of the desert: Date palm groves and Berber cuisine. You may come across stuffed flatbreads typical of the region.

Meals on the tour

TatiliYakala's Grand Morocco tour lasts 7 nights, 8 days, and the catalogue states that breakfast and dinners at 4-star hotels are included. Lunches are a good opportunity to discover local restaurants in each city. We finalise the programme details together with you at the quotation stage.

To get to know the cities on the route, read our article Cities to visit in Morocco; to choose your season, see When to go to Morocco.

Food shopping in the souk

It is common to ask for a taste when buying spices, olives and dried fruit. Ask the price beforehand and request packaging with customs rules in mind.

Frequently asked questions

What is Morocco's national dish?

Couscous and tagine are the two dishes considered symbols of Moroccan cuisine. Couscous is eaten at family meals, especially on Fridays.

Is Moroccan food spicy?

Moroccan cuisine is well spiced but usually not hot. If you like it hot, you can ask for chilli sauces such as harissa.

Can you find vegetarian food in Morocco?

Yes. Vegetable tagine, vegetable couscous, lentil and chickpea dishes and generous salads are easy for vegetarians to find. As meat stock may be used in soups such as harira, it is worth asking.

Is it rude to refuse mint tea?

There is no strict rule, but accepting tea when it is offered is a polite way of returning hospitality. If you don't want sugar, you can say so beforehand.

Is street food safe in Morocco?

Choosing busy stalls with a high turnover and opting for hot, freshly cooked food reduces the risk. We recommend sealed bottled water for drinking.