Finally another Blog entry about food

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It is true that I have gotten a little distracted by the events and the travel and not given enough attention to the food aspect of this trip. I mean that is the name of the blog "Foodies Unleashed". So here is the first of two blogs about the food

One of the highlights this far on this trip has been the Moroccan cooking lesson I took in Marrakech. It is called Souk Cuisine. Souk of course is the name for the marketplace, and thus this course was focused on cooking what comes from the market that day. There are no supermarkets in the souk, little imported foodstuffs and refrigerators are tiny so the custom is that the person of the house responsible for the cooking buys what looks best/freshest from the market that day and makes it for dinner. A traditional and natural way to feed your family. This lesson was following that routine exactly. Our small group, myself and two couples from Rocky Mountain House, Alberta, met Gemma (the organizer ofthe course) at Jemaa el Fnaa square where we were handed a small purse with some Moroccan dirhams and a shopping list of what we needed for our meal. Gemma, an ex-pat Dutch lady, has been living in Marrakech with her family for about 9 years. Her line of work in the Netherlands was catering. She instructed us on the ways and means of buying your ingredients. Who to shop from, what to look for, where to go. It was fascinating. Loved every minute. The fish stall (having them fillet and skin sardines to be picked up later), the veggies were in an area where they spread out on blankets on the ground, the spice shop, etc.

The after spending a couple of hours in the souk it was off to her home in the medina where most of her ground floor has been renoed into a working kitchen. As in most Morrocan homes the center of the house is an open courtyard which was directly above our heads. It was great to look up and see the blue sky while preparing our meal. There we met the local ladies who were to be the instructors. They did not speak English but through sign language and actual demos we learned the details of preparation that we needed. Our menu was Moroccan Salad, Courgette (Zucchini) salad, Zaahlouk (a cold eggplant salad), carrot salad with almonds and raisins, sardine meatballs in a tomato, a vegetable tagine and then a some tasty cookies called Chribas.

It was great meal which we all ate together washed down with some very lovely Moroccan white wine. It was great fun and I learned a lot. New dishes to add to my cooking arsenal!!

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Photos

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Gemma talking about souk shopping

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A visit to a local bakery

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Our two cooking instructors.