• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Tuesday, March 2, 2021
REPORTING MOROCCO REPORTING MOROCCO
REPORTING MOROCCO REPORTING MOROCCO
  • Home
  • Nation
    • Politics
    • Economy
    • Environment
    • Education
  • Art & Culture
    • Food
    • Art
    • Music
    • Fashion
  • Religion
  • Health & Science
    • Public Health
  • Our Student Journalists
    • Spring 2020
      • Anna Mitchell
      • Antonia Knox
      • Aviva Rosenberg
      • Corrine Schmaedeke
      • Elijah McKee
      • Gari De Ramos
      • Harrison Daley
      • Jessica Blough
      • Kathryn Jefferson
      • Marlon Hyde
      • Nejra Kravic
      • Solaine Carter
    • In Other Media
  • Alumni
    • Fall 2019
      • Rachel Berets
      • Chloe Chaobal
      • Ella Feldman
      • Ryley Graham
      • Georgia Knoles
      • Patrick Linehan
      • Mimi Miyamoto
      • Stella Shi
      • Bella Staal
      • N’Kaela Webster
      • Ellie Zimmerman
    • Spring 2019
      • Alexis Broadnax
      • Amelia Keesler
      • Anton Delgado
      • Austin Corona
      • Catherine Brewer
      • Chris Dillon
      • Giulia Villanueva
      • Lauren Goldfarb
      • Lexi Reich
      • Mac Dressman
      • Malaya Nordyke
      • Margaret Dols
      • Mary Bernard
      • Maya London-Southern
      • Michelle Li
      • Shelby Kluver
      • Stephen Higgins
      • Viviana Prado-Núñez
    • Fall 2018
      • Alexandria Saurman
      • Alexis Miller
      • Brionne Frazier
      • Jabari Richardson
      • Jordyn Congelli
      • Kylie Wilder
      • Megan O’Herron
      • Sam Metivier
      • Zoe Buchli
    • Spring 2018
      • Alyssa Kann
      • Anna Bongardino
      • Carrie Boike
      • Emily Vega
      • Erika Riley
      • Hadley Stack
      • Joseph Held
      • Matthew McDermott
      • Molly Keisman
      • Najah Mateen
      • Olivia Lewis
      • Ryan Terhune
    • Fall 2017
      • Andrew Seger
      • Claire Franksen
      • Clara Neill
      • Jeanette Lam
      • Justin Cates
      • Katie Koontz
      • Lara Korte
      • Lars Brady
      • Lars Brady
      • Livvy Fore
      • Olivia Kohn
      • Rita Carmona
      • Sophie Nunnally
      • Sophie Pollock
    • Spring 2017
      • Allie Merola
      • Anisha Wilson
      • Connor Shannon
      • David Fuchs
      • Deborah Katsuva
      • Evan Popp
      • Katharine Milbradt
      • Kesley Cochran
      • Mary Chen
      • Mary Mathis
      • Max Jodoin
      • Micaela Harris
      • Perry DeMarche
      • Regan Reeck
      • Sophie Alexander
      • Tamara Matheson
      • Zakiyyah Maryam
    • Fall 2016
      • Celia Heudebourg
      • DeJah Ault
      • Dewborah Honore
      • Jessica Lartigue
      • Margaret Britton-Mehlisch
      • Phoebe Osterhout
      • Regan Reek
      • Shirley Chan
      • Sonia Mohammadzadah
      • Taylor Burris
    • Spring 2016
      • Amelia Palacios
      • Becca Dewosky
      • Cannon Sullivan
      • Danielle Douglas
      • Daria Etezadi
      • Elaina Zachos
      • Julia Cabrera
      • Kainoelani Lee
      • Kelsey Hanson
      • Mackenzie Ritter
      • Madeline Hughes
      • Molly Mulroy
      • Oly Zayac
      • Savin Mattozzi
      • Shiloh Frederick
      • Viviane Feldman
      • Wesley Lickus
    • Fall 2015
      • Allegra Thomas
      • Christopher Lowell
      • Darren Spirk
      • Hannah Steinkopf-Frank
      • Jennifer Kwon
      • Kayla Dwyer
      • Mitchell McCluskey
      • Nora Kipniss
      • Rob Dozier
      • Rob Dozier
      • Simneon Lancaster
      • Trey Strange
    • Spring 2015
      • Ben Bartenstein
      • Brennan Weiss
      • Emma Sikora Paulus
      • Evan Verploegh
      • Evin Billington
      • Hayden Crowell
      • Julia Barstow
      • Julia Levine
      • Kacie Graves
      • Kiannah Sepeda-Miller
      • La’akea Kaufman
      • Mackenzie Martin
      • Mary Byrne
      • Paris Alston
      • Samantha Weiss
      • Sofie Tapia
      • William Matsuda
    • 2014 Students
    • 2013 Students

Unemployed Moroccans Look to Healthy Juice Fad to Get By

October 4, 2016 By Mary Stucky

By Maria Luisa Frasson-Nori

RABAT, Morocco — A cluster of bamboo-like stalks sticks out above the crowd on Avenue Mohammed V in Rabat, attracting those seeking refreshment from a hot summer afternoon. Hamid Rhandour watches passersby until a customer stops by his stand to buy a cup of freshly pressed sugarcane juice.  

“In Arab countries, there are a lot of people unemployed and this is a self-driven alternative, in order to put money in my pocket,” Rhandour, 35, says as he leans against the clunky green juicer machine, wrapped in eye-catching advertising banners that promote the health benefits of sugarcane. “It’s not a well-organized system. It’s just me.”

Rhandour is an unemployed university graduate capitalizing on the recent popularity of healthy juices to make a living. For the residents and visitors of Rabat’s seventeenth-century medina, the preferred natural refreshment is qasab bsukkar, or sugarcane juice, because of its alleged health benefits.

Sugarcane juice, or qasab bsukkar in Moroccan Arabic, is a favorite among Moroccans. Photo by Phoebe Osterhout.
Sugarcane juice, or qasab bsukkar in Moroccan Arabic, is a favorite among Moroccans. Photo by Phoebe Osterhout.

Rhandour and his partner bought the pressing machine from Egypt and were the only vendors on Ave. Mohammed V until 2011. They first opened the business in 2007 after Rhandour lost his job as a professor of sociology at a university in Fes, and it has been their source of income ever since.

“I’m always in the same spot because I have four friends in this area with me,” says Rhandour. “We help each other.”

Five years ago, Tawfiq Amribaj, 28, quit school and moved to Rabat to man a sugarcane juice stand near the primary intersection on Mohammed V.

“I was not able to complete my studies because I didn’t have enough money and the school was far from my house,” says Amribaj, who is paid 2000 MAD a month for his work maintaining the juice stand.

Tawfiq Amribaj, who has worked as a sugarcane juice vendor for 5 years, reloads ice into the juicing machine. Photo by Maria Luisa Frasson-Nori.
Tawfiq Amribaj, who has worked as a sugarcane juice vendor for 5 years, reloads ice into the juicing machine. Photo by Maria Luisa Frasson-Nori.

Now, you can find him behind the conspicuous green posters promoting the health benefits of sugarcane, working the crank as two deeply indented cylinders press against each other stripping the stalk of its juice and nutrients. The dry remains are deposited into a large black trash bag secured in place against the machine and a nearby wall by a thin brown rope.

 

Street vendors get the sugarcanes from the northwestern Gharb region of Morocco, about 30 minutes by train from Rabat. Photo by Phoebe Osterhout.
Street vendors get the sugarcanes from the northwestern Gharb region of Morocco, about 30 minutes by train from Rabat. Photo by Phoebe Osterhout.

“I have maybe 300 customers a day,” Amribaj says as he hands a woman and her daughter a cold cup of sugarcane juice. “This is only in the summer.”

A weekly consumer of the sugarcane nectar, Badrdine Boulaid, 35, believes in the health benefits of the sugarcane, which is farmed in the north-western Gharb region of the country, where Boulaid lives. He rattles off the various diseases and body parts that sugarcane purportedly relieves, among them “kidneys, diabetes, and rheumatism.”

“The taste is not so good, but the health benefits are what makes me want to drink it.” says Boulaid.

The advertised health benefits of sugarcane are enough to convert even the most careful customers. Bouchra Sahimda, who grew up and still lives in Rabat at age 40, says she has always been hesitant to eat or drink from street stands.

Even so, she would be willing to reconsider this rule because of the juice’s supposed positive effects on the body, which she said she read on the advertisement panels.

“Maybe I will use it as medicine and not as food or drink,” she says, adding that this trend has only recently become popular. “Maybe if I am sick and they say that this will make you recover, I will drink it.”

As a vendor, Rhandour is well aware of the advantage that the healthy image of the drink brings to his business. He reads off of the graphics on the side of the juice machine the advantage sugarcane brings: containing fiber, calcium, iron, proteins, and Vitamins A and C, the plant is good for the heart, kidneys, knees, and even foot aches.

However, the juice vendor does not consider this a long-term job. “When I find another opportunity, I will go for it,” he says. “This is temporary.”

The natural and healthy image of the sugarcane drink is important to Moroccans and to the street vendors. Photo by Phoebe Osterhout.
The natural and healthy image of the sugarcane drink is important to Moroccans and to the street vendors. Photo by Phoebe Osterhout.

While the qasab gives Rhandour and Amribaj an opportunity to support themselves, there is some sense of distrust toward the vendors by the public.

Brahim Elataoui, 48, the head chef at the Central for Cross-Cultural Learning in Rabat, is one such voice of opposition. The advertised health benefits of the sugarcane, Brahim says, depend on the quality of the crop. Thick stalks and a deep green tint are indicators of high quality sugarcane. According to Brahim, however, street vendors only use the cheap ones.

He also argues that the cleanliness of both the machine and the vendor cannot be trusted. “They don’t clean the qasab. I see it when they put put the wood in. I don’t like this manner,” he says, adding that he would rather buy the juice from a supermarket.

As for regular customers, many are content with enjoying the peace of mind that comes with the sweet flavor of the sugarcane juice.

“I don’t want to think about it that much,” says Boulaid, who drinks the sugarcane regularly. “You just pay, drink, and don’t think twice about it.”

At any mention of the dispute over the cleanliness of his product, Amribaj becomes defensive.

He insists that he takes care of the machine by cleaning it daily, and he turns to the woman running the neighboring corner store to verify his story. He takes all precautions, making sure that the customer is watching when he pours the drink into their cup to avoid any misunderstandings.

After all, his livelihood depends on it.

Hamid Rhandour, 35, at his sugarcane juice stall on the Ave. Mohammed V in Rabat, Morocco. Photo by Phoebe Osterhout.
Hamid Rhandour, 35, at his sugarcane juice stall on the Ave. Mohammed V in Rabat, Morocco. Photo by Phoebe Osterhout.

 

Food

Reader Interactions

Alumni

Alumni Spotlight: Ben Bartenstein

As a college student in 2015, Ben Bartenstein found himself 4,000 miles from home in Rabat, Morocco. … Read Full Article

Featured

News of the Day: March 7, 2018

Woman Accuses Prison of Torturing Hirak Activists, Authorities Say Allegations ‘Unfounded’ A serial … Read Full Article

Ceuta

News Roundup: Closure of Ceuta & Melilla Borders; Maternal Deaths Declining; Middle Class Initiative

Photo credit: AFP February 18, 2020 Three stories you need to read today. Compiled and broken … Read Full Article

Primary Sidebar

FOLLOW REPORTING MOROCCO

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter

PHOTO OF THE DAY

Handprints in Oudayas

More Featured Photos

ALUMNI JOURNALISTS

Alumni Spotlight: Ben Bartenstein

SIT Students Visit Alum Perry DeMarche at Dar Si Hmad

Moroccan families mourn drowning of 45 who used risky migration route to Spain

Photo by WBUR

A reporter for Boston’s unheard voices: Spotlight on MOJ alum Paris Alston

More Alumni Posts

The Program

Reporting Morocco is produced by U.S. university students on an SIT Study Abroad program called Morocco: Field Studies in Journalism and New Media. They are mentored by veteran journalists from The New York Times, The Associated Press, and Round Earth Media in a program applying technology and global consciousness to produce high-impact journalism on vital social issues.

Reporting Morocco strives to be a reliable resource for news and information about Morocco.

Learn More

SIT Logo

A pioneer in experiential, field-based study abroad, SIT (founded as the School for International Training) provides more than 60 semester and summer programs for undergraduate students in Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East, as well as comparative programs in multiple locations.

Morocco: Field Studies in Journalism and New Media is a program of SIT Study Abroad.

  • The World Learning Inc. Family:
  • experiment.org
  • https://studyabroad.sit.edu
  • worldlearning.org

Footer

  • Academics
  • Admissions
  • Apply
  • Alumni
  • Alumni Connect
  • Give
  • Media Center
  • Request Info
  • SIT Stories
  • School for International Training

    1 Kipling Road • Brattleboro, VT 05302 • 802 257-7751 • 800 257-7751 (toll-free in the US)
    SIT is a private nonprofit institution of higher education.

  • Explore SIT Graduate Institute

    © Copyright World Learning, Inc.