Eating In Morocco

WARNING: GRAPHIC PICS AHEAD IN THE PHOTO SLIDE

One of the joys of eating in Morocco, besides its melange of exotic spices, has to do with the fresh produce and other ingredients used by restaurants, street vendors, and regular households alike. You only have to walk through the souks to see people snatching up legumes, meat, eggs, dried fruits and a million types of olives for their daily needs. Restaurants will run out of dishes toward the end of the night, which is a good hint that they are not substituting with frozen or canned ingredients just to sell another meal.

Anyway, I thought it’d be interesting to show you pictures of things I encounter in the souks that translate to actual dishes I find throughout my week in Morocco. About the warning at the beginning of this entry…let’s just say Morocco is a GREAT place to be vegetarian. Lentils, chickpeas, Fava beans, and a million other protein sources are jazzed up with a touch of cumin or Ras El Hanout (a blend of many spices) then cooked slowly with aubergines and other vegetables.

And when they come served as a tagine or falafel with tabouleh, I’m a happy camper. No need to ever go back to my carnivore ways again. 

Anyway, for the carnivores, there's camel meat for camel burgers. Or chickens for the Moroccan pastilla, which is both sweet and savory. Or lamb…for meat sandwiches sold at stands throughout the souk.

All I can say about all of this is, it is becoming easier and easier to travel as a vegetarian. Sometimes it's harder to get around the dairy than the meat issue. The only guilt I have about eating here is thinking about this poor man working in this hot oven so that I could enjoy that ubiquitous bread over and over, with every meal. 

Yummy.

December 21, 2009