NOTE: Please indulge my jumping ahead as I want to post information gleaned -- hopefully with some accuracy -- from a Food Tour this morning in the Fez Medina.
Our food guide is Gail Leonard, an expat from Yorkshire, England who moved here 6 years ago with her then partner who had the brilliant idea of creating a guesthouse in the old medina. Their brief partnership produced a daughter and while both parents still live here, they are no longer together.
Our food guide is Gail Leonard, an expat from Yorkshire, England who moved here 6 years ago with her then partner who had the brilliant idea of creating a guesthouse in the old medina. Their brief partnership produced a daughter and while both parents still live here, they are no longer together.
Walking from Riad Myra, our first stop is to look at a large double boiler-like pot wrapped at the top with plastic. Inside we are told sheep heads (with the fur on) are cooking. These will be sold either with or without their eyes, which are considered a delicacy. We also learn that it is a pot such as this that is used to cook cous cous -- the beef, lamb (actually mutton) or chicken and vegetables are simmered in the lower pot with water while the upper pot with a perforated bottom I holds the cous cous. After the cous cous is steamed the first time, it is fluffed up and steamed again. After this steaming the meat or poultry and veggies from the lower pit are added to the cous cous, fluffed again with some olive oil, and steamed for a third time. Not much of a resemblance to our 5 minute variety back home! Nor is the flavor! |
Next, we head over to a bread vendor. Bread is an important element in the Moroccan diet. On display for purchase is a flour-made flat bread that seems to be a staple at each meal. A customer orders one that a slathers in goat cheese and drizzled with honey -- yummy! Another variety of bread is more typically seen at breakfast and made of semolina. Then it is formed into a 3/4" thick cake. There is also a pancake-like bread that is also served at breakfast in our riads. It is made with flour and lots of yeast, which gives it a bubbly texture when it is cooked on a hot surface. |
While there were once 100 or more varieties of dates grown in Morocco, today there are only between 30-40 due to crop diseases. The most expensive one is the mejhool date, which is also grown in California. In Morocco, dates are given to pregnant woman to bring on labor as they are high in oxytocin, and women will give to men to increase their empathy and level of relational attachment to them. The medina is generally a noisy, chaotic and absolutely fascinating series of souks (discrete areas organized by activity such as food, leather, jewelry, rugs, clothing, etc). Today is generally quiet as it is Friday, when most shops close for the day right before mid-day prayer. |
We are also introduced to two fascinating plants. The dried flower of the first, called bashnekha, is used as natural toothpicks. It is a member of the fennel family and grows wild in fields. The moisture from the plant is also used to promote healthy gums. The second are strips of walnut bark, which is used both for sweet breath and as a substitute for a toothbrush. |
Our next stop is to discuss meat. Gail tells us that the Koran prescribes that animals be killed by cutting open their nests from right to left to right, again. The animal must then be bled out, as it is believed that disease is carried through the blood. Meat hung in the medina is refrigerated during summer months and after hours. She points out that most carcasses have their testicle exposed because male meat is thought to be more tender; often less scrupulous butchers will sew testicles onto female carcasses to show it is tender. Tubs of preserved beef in olive oil are pointed out, as is camel meat, which we are told is best ground. Stuffing their spleens with ground camel meat and sliced olives is also considered a delicacy. When we see it, we realize that was one of the appetizers we tried last evening at dinner, which has the consistency of a country pate. |
Next we stop in front of orange blossom purveyors, whose displays also include the aluminum or copper vessels that sit on the stove or fire during the distillation process. The orange water (or rose water) is used in cooking or flavoring almond paste. It takes 3 kilos of blossoms to make 10 liters of scented cooking waters. Once the water has been distilled, it sits in the dark for 40 days and then 40 days in the light. |