Objective: Food

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By staying with a host family during my short stay in Morocco, I have benefitted by tasting a variety of Moroccan dishes. My host Maman is a wonderful cook. With Maman for meals and the host sisters for entertainment, I am well taken care of. Shéma cleans my room when I leave for school (and when I return, I have to re-discover where my books are). My 8am class is rather rough on the typical household schedule, that would otherwise begin around 9am. I am up before 7am, which means Maman has coffee and bread on the table, and sometimes an egg, by 7:15. I feel a little guilty to make her do that, but I sure do appreciate that cup of coffee and breakfast. She goes back to bed before I even leave the house. She makes really good coffee, and varies the type of bread from baguette, to sweet rolls, to crepe/pancake bread, etc., always accompanied by the daily staple bread.

Other than breakfast, I haven’t changed the schedule too much. Shéma has class through the week as well, so lunch is on a pretty fixed schedule at 2pm, quickly followed by a nap. Lunch is the big family meal of the day, and we all gather around the table that awkwardly hits my knees. The main dish sits in a big plate in the middle, with the side dishes of vegetables encircling it. I am positioned closest to the many dishes, while everyone else just reaches a bit farther. The staple is bread, made every day. It is delightful, especially when fresh from the oven dipped in a hot tagine, or stew.

Class begins at 4pm, and my walk home is often longer due to friends and chatting, or perhaps a tea or coffee, or a stop to appreciate some merchandise, or to buy an orange juice. Within an hour of my return home, I have tea. I really appreciate that Maman always has enough tea for me, and for anyone, who comes at tea time. If I walk in late, I still get two glasses of sugary, minty hot tea, served with bread. The bread is at least the regular, daily kind, but usually in addition to that we have a treat –chocolate spread, olives, sweet bread or tea cakes, or a pan-baked corn bread with sugar. It hits the spot after class, especially if I haven’t stopped for orange juice.

After sitting with the family and the television for a while, I go back to my room to study. Sometimes Shéma joins me. We work and chat –Shéma answers my homework questions before I finish reading it –and eventually she requests a turn at Spider Solitaire on the computer. Moshi-moskil (no problem). By 11pm I am tired, and would naturally go to bed; however, Maman calls me to dinner and since it’s sitting right in front of me, smells so good, and I’m a little hungry, I eat some. I am improving at keeping ‘some’ at a reasonable quantity.

The bread is baked in a community oven not far from home. Shema fetches it while the table is set. The main dish includes a stew with vegetables and protein. I have had a chicken stew with green beans, plums, and of course the usual spices of cilantro, parsley, cumin, black pepper, onion, ginger, tumeric, etc. Sometimes we have a very good meal of fava beans. I have had fish, potatoes sliced in stew or French fried, and every Friday is couscous day. Maman’s brother and sisters join us around a big pot of couscous covered with steamed vegetables and broth on the side that we add by the spoonful. Sauces and broths made with chicken, beef, and fish are accompanied with raisins, zucchini, carrots, eggplant, tomatoes, olives, lemons, and other flavors. My favorite ingredient to sauces are lemons soaked in brine. The pulp is added to the sauce and simmered, while the rind is added at the end, soft enough to eat and perfectly salty/sour. Side dishes are usually salads of tomatoes and onions, cucumbers, potatoes with parsley, beets, carrots, and a variety of olives. We use the bread, torn in small pieces with the right hand, to dip into both the main dish and the salads, although spoons are possible. Desserts are equally flavorful via a variety of fruits, such as honeydew melon that lives up to its name, watermelon, apples, plums, fresh figs, peaches, and apricots, and sometimes a flavored pudding. The milk Maman uses for coffee and puddings comes from the countryside, sold in milk cans in the street.

I have been watching Maman when I can, and helping occasionally too. I should be able to bake bread and make a good chicken stew by the time I return to the States!

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Photos

Olive Vendor
This is beautiful. The many types of olives are also in different mixes, sometimes by themselves and sometimes with other pickled vegetables and fruits, such as carrots and cucumbers and lemons.

Market
A fruit vendor and a meat vendor beside him.

Couscous
Friday is couscous day, and every Friday I join my family for the feast. We squeeze around the table and dig in. No bread for this meal. We eat the couscous with veggies and spoon some extra broth over the grain until we reach the middle, where we share the chicken or meat that ends the meal. Yum, yum, yum.

Comments

[Nancy]

figs
I ate my first fresh fig last weekend at Patrick's. Very tasty. I'm jealous that you had them frequently!