Meals in Morocco

The transition from a word document to the blogger compose box was not easy and thus the formatting is off.

So what have I been eating? Mostly sandwiches or shwarma, which is somewhat similar to a doner kabap, with chicken and lamb, and always served with fries. This shwarma is closer to a panini, but I’m not about to lecture anyone on proper names for their food. I tried a Sicilian pizza topped with tuna and olives. Eh, ok with a delightfully refreshing citronade.

The big ticket item is the tajine. Thus far, I’ve eaten two wildly different tajines. It’s is

considered a Moroccan national dish and it varies. The first was a kefta meatball tajine

delivered to me in a steaming ceramic pot of sweetened tomato soup/base covered

with an egg and cheese topping kefta meatballs absorbing the flavors of the tomato

and spice. My second tajine was a delicious chicken, carrot, and potato dish cooked in an olive and citrus sauce.

I wish my experience with couscous was overflowing with superlatives. The two dinners were decent, yet not as rich as the tajines. I cannot chart too much difference between good couscous grains in the states and what I’ve consumed here. The photos is of a beef dish with stewed potatoes, carrots, and onions. I ordered a grilled chicken couscous the night before, and the chicken brochettes were a step above the rather bland beef.

I also scarfed down some fried eggplant, fish with cilantro, and a ball of potato rolled with a sweet, herb dough. I am eyeing a snail soup that I will try before leaving. Breakfast thus far consisted of bread, jam, butter, tea, and orange juice. It took several days to return to form and eating three meals again, which dipped to one a day.

The tea is saccharine overload with hints of mint served burning hot. It’s taken a bit of time to adapt to the café culture of Morocco, and more time is in order for a khawajjah such as myself. At an amazing cafe, Comedy, I sat down for journal writing and an opera cake, which is the photo you see at the left. Decadent does not adequately describe the sweet, soft layers of chocolate ganache with the subtle hints of coffee. The hostel denizens have been a motley assortment of folks from anarchists to globe trotting kids. All have been incredibly friendly and a nice Libyan fellow has been kind enough to speak slowly and engage me with in Modern Standard Arabic. More updates are coming along with continued saltiness from your reporter on this corner of Africa.