Moroccan national cuisine is an original mix of Arab, Berber, Jewish, and Mediterranean cuisines. Fruits, vegetables, meat, and seafood are used to create Morocco's national dishes. But the main feature of traditional Moroccan cuisine is spices. Moroccans spice their dishes with a variety of spices and aromatic herbs, achieving a distinctive taste. It's definitely worth trying the local cuisine for a firework of flavors.
Traditional Moroccan dishes
Soups in Morocco are the centerpiece of any meal. They are very thick and hearty, so you won't go hungry. And the choice of soups is vast enough to satisfy even the pickiest of diners.
Chorba. Under this name in Morocco is a spicy chicken broth made with herbs.
Harira. This Moroccan soup is made with lamb and beans and generously flavored with coriander.
Fish soup. It is common in Morocco to add various herbs and cloves to fish broth. It is the cloves that give the soup its piquant flavor.
Ebaba. Perhaps the most surprising soup of Moroccan cuisine for a European. It is a bread soup and worth trying if only for the exotic flavor.
In Moroccan restaurants, you will find an almost endless supply of meat dishes. Meat is prepared in a thousand different ways, and fish dishes are diverse. Thanks to a vast array of spices and herbs, Moroccans cook even ordinary scrambled eggs in a special way.
Shish kebab. Different types of meat, spices, vegetables, a variety of combinations of both allow Moroccans to create many variations of this dish. You can hardly try them all, but it's worth a try.
Pastilla. This dish is very complex, made of meat and dough. And, of course, there's a lot of spices involved.
Tajin. Beef, quince, and other ingredients of this dish are stewed in a special way in specially designed dishes.
Meshua. This is the Moroccan name for baked or roasted lamb meat. With spices, of course.
Mutton. Among the most popular variations of this meat are lamb with dates, apricots, and prunes and lamb with pine nuts and raisins.
Mishna. Baked chicken with a varied selection of spices.
Steamed chicken. In this case, the bird is stuffed with herbs and spices.
Gayin el ghalmi. Under that name is lamb goulash, of course, cooked with lots of spices.
Vegetables, fruits, and a variety of grains are as common as meat dishes in Morocco. Salads and vegetable stews are very popular and varied. And oranges, in general, are used almost everywhere.
Sherry. A salad in which greens and citrus complement a base of boiled rice.
Stuffed eggplants. These are filled with rice, small pieces of other vegetables, meat, and, of course, spices.
Salads with oranges. There are a great many of them in Morocco, and many are quite complicated in the way they are prepared.
Salad of roasted sweet peppers. The name speaks for itself. Pepper slices are lightly fried and then used to make a salad.
Moroccan-style roast with vegetables The vegetables here come in several varieties and are heavily spiced.
These are just a few of Morocco's huge list of vegetable dishes. Just as much as vegetables, there is a love for a variety of pastries and desserts. Oriental sweets are favored, and desserts made with fruit and almonds are definitely worth a visit.
Ksra. This traditional Moroccan bread is passed around at dinner and dipped in small vases of salt and cumin.
Bastia. This is the name given to pancakes in Morocco, which are brightly flavored with herbs.
Rgaif. The same pancakes, but with a filling. You'll have to check with the restaurant.
Brioité. Moroccan meat patties.
Briquets. These small pancakes are made with unleavened dough, and boiled eggs are used as a filling.
Beshkito. Moroccan crispy cookies. Not a bad accompaniment to tea.
Awzet. This is the name given in Morocco to special buns stuffed with meat and spices.
Morocco's main drinks are mint tea and strong coffee with cardamom. Coffee is drunk a lot here and is common almost everywhere. But coffee with milk is rarer and has its own name, kahu kasse.
The local Mahia is popular among spirits, but it's drunk more by foreigners. Muslim traditions forbid locals from drinking alcohol. Morocco makes some of the best wines in North Africa.
