Tuesday, March 2, 2021

Food

A Vegetarian’s Guide to Morocco

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By SADIA KHATRI

Food streets in Morocco are a vegetarian’s nightmare. Butcher shops flaunt meat in every form: cut into sausage, minced, sliced, finely chopped. Roadside restaurants advertise an assortment of chawarmas, paninis and burgers while customers loiter about. Biased menus flap in defiance, offering modest salads as their sole vegetarian option, as smoke from barbequed chicken lingers invitingly above grilles, and snail and fish smells waft in to tantalize passerbys. In Morocco, meat is more than a popular cuisine: it is a lifestyle

“It’s very shame[ful] if you have people in your house and you put Tajine without meat,” stresses Ibrahim Adaoui, 46, referring to his favourite stew of chicken, tendered to perfection.

Fast Lunch in the Medina

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By ELLIS HAZARD

In what appears to be a fast food restaurant so small its grills have been forced to the street of Rabat’s Medina, one  finds typical menu items with a few big surprises. Surprisingly, the restaurant inside boasts multiple floors, including a loft overlooking the main floor. Still, there’s no hesitation when presenting the highlight of the experience from the street view: the performance of the food preparation.

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All photographs © Ellis Hazard

Eat. Tea. Eat. Tea.

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By IMANI BRAMMER

The water boils and is poured atop tiny rolls of dark brown, gunpowder tea pellets. A handful of freshly picked, vividly green mint leaves are stuffed inside of the teapot. Instantly, the aroma rises: a minty fresh scent makes its way throughout the traditional Moroccan household, greeting the guests with hospitality, generosity and a refreshing ambiance.The tea is poured back and forth between glass cups: a routine of cooling, making the temperature just right for the perfect warmth to seep through the fingertips. The Ougaamou family sits comfortably at the dinner table: television on, bread in basket, but most importantly, tea at the center.

McDonalds: A Taste for Conspicuous Consumption in Rabat

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By SIERRA COUNCIL

Modern fast food in Rabat offers customers a polar opposite experience from the bustle of the medina. Restaurants give way for budding teenagers couples and cheerful families. Greasy aromas of “McNuggets” and “Big Macs” compete for space in an atmosphere of anticipation, where the wait can take up to 15 minutes. However, customers will also find food triple the price.

“It’s the culture.” states 33-year-old local chef, Hicham Radi. “The rich people go to famous places like McDonalds”

According to the World Bank, the average Moroccan family can be identified as lower middle income.

The Simple Life

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By MARK MINTON

A small fire and the faint smell of burning marijuana signals the presence of a group of fishermen on the shore of Rabat, Morocco’s coastal capital. As the twilight hour begins and the sun casts a shimmering golden glow across the various tidal pools on the rocky shore, five Moroccans sit down to enjoy a fresh catch from the evening’s haul.

“We enjoy the simple life here,” says Hamada Benhima with a winsome smile as he presents a slightly charred fish called Halama. Nimble sand-covered hands pass thefish back and forth, tearing off small pieces that practically fall off the bones.

Sugar in Moroccan Diet Causing Major Health Concerns

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By GRANGER TRIPP

Four oversized sugar cubes sit atop the mint leaves resting at the bottom of Fatima Hasson’s tin teapot.The taste is tough to beat – the cool refreshment of mint combined with the sugar’s sappy sweetness.

But, the excessive sugar consumption in the Moroccan diet comes at a price. The rate of diabetes is high in the country and is expected to double by 2030, according to the World Health Organization.

“About one and a half million people suffer from diabetes in our country,” said Dr. Jamal Belkhadir, President of the Moroccan League for the Fight Against Diabetes, in an article he published earlier this year.

Diabetes in Morocco

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By ISHAN THAKORE

Kaltoum Ben Cheqroun loves to cook Moroccan dishes, but rarely eats her meticulously prepared meals. She only nibbled at her home-made Sunday feast of salads, boiled sweet potatoes, sautéed chicken and fresh bread.

“You know when she wants to taste something [sweet], we always tell her it’s bad, it’s bad, it’s bad,” said her 20 year-old daughter Fatimzzohra. “But, you know, sometimes she wants to. She takes a little bit.”

Ben Cheqroun, 60, has Type 2 diabetes, which prevents her from eating her savory meals. Diabetes affects 8.3 percent of Moroccans and is now endemic in the Middle East and North Africa, according to the International Diabetes Foundation.

Sugarcane and Conversation

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By AMULYA SHANKAR

A sugarcane juice stall can be an oasis in a bustling market, and there are a myriad of vendors peddling freshly pressed sugarcane juice to weary shoppers looking for a cool drink and a rush of energy in Rabat’s medina. Hassan is one such vendor, combining the distinctive sweetness of sugarcane with a hint of lemon and a pinch of salt for five dirhams a glass.

“It’s cheap, and everyone loves it. Sugarcane is easy to sell,” he says. Hassan’s stall, resting in the shade amidst various shops selling everything from shoes to snails, is marked by a large bundle of green sugarcane stalks, ready to be fed into the pressing machine to be made into juice.

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