Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
More than 186 reader-rated Moroccan recipes from foodie magazines
Gourmet
and
Bon Appétit
are
online at
www.epicurious.com
, including quick and healthy options and suggested wine pair-
ings.
Meats
Carnivores and sustainability-minded eaters can finally put aside their differences and en-
joy dinner together in Morocco. As you may guess, watching sheep and goats scamper
over mountains and valleys in Morocco, herds live a charmed existence here - at least un-
til dinnertime. Most of the meat you'll enjoy in Morocco is free-range, antibiotic-free and
raised on a steady diet of grass and wild herbs. If you wonder why lamb and mutton is so
much more flavourful in Morocco than the stuff back home, you'll find your answer
scampering around the High Atlas foothills.
For Moroccan recipes, a glossary of Arabic ingredients and Moroccan cooking tips and anec-
dotes, surf Moroccan Gateway's foodie links at
www.al-bab.com/maroc/food.htm
.
Seasonal Variations
If there is one food you adore or a dish you detest, you might want to plan the timing of
your visit to Morocco accordingly. Morocco offers an incredible bounty of produce, meats
and fish, but these vary seasonally. The country's relative lack of infrastructure and hard
currency can be advantageous to visitors - hence the picturesque mountain villages that
seem untouched by time, and the jackpot of dirhams you get for your euros - but this also
makes importing produce tricky. This means that if you're visiting in autumn, you may
have to enjoy fresh figs instead of kiwi fruit (not exactly a hardship).
When you consider your menu options, you'll also want to consider geography. Oual-
idia oysters may not be so fresh by the time they cross mountain passes to Ouarzazate, and
Sefrou cherries can be hard to come by in Tiznit. So if your vacation plans revolve around
lavish seafood dinners, head for the coasts; vegetarians visiting desert regions in autumn
should have a high tolerance for dates.
Hold the hot sauce: dousing your tajine with
harissa
(capsicum-pepper sauce) is generally done
in Tunisia, Morocco's chief rival in the kitchen and on the football ield.
