Nummy, nummy in my tummy

I talked enough about what I have been doing everyday and the trips that I have been on. Now it's time to talk serious important stuff about Morocco - food. I thought I was going to starve in Morocco because not only am I picky eater, but I only eat chicken and fish. Boy, was I wrong. I think I'm putting on the pounds because everything is so good! I can't stop myself sometimes.

Breakfast: Breakfast here does not consist of my two bowls of cereal but instead, a very chocolaty pastry and café au lait (check out my Starbucks in Morocco post to see the picture of my breakfast). Moroccans love their coffee and their huge supply of pastries. The only thing that boggles my mind over and over again is that they don't have cinnamon rolls. They have everything else under the sun but not cinnamon rolls. If you don't like coffee, no problem. You can order freshly squeezed juice or the wonderful mint tea.

At Café Florence

Lunch: There are two main dishes - tajines and couscous. You cannot leave Morocco without trying those. Moroccan's biggest meal of the day is lunch.
Tajine can be anything! You can have chicken tajine, vegetarian tajine, beef tajine, beef tajine with olives, and the list goes on and on. It's called tajine because that is what the kitchen dish is called - they cook tajine in a tajine. It looks a little strange so let me try and describe it to you. The top part of a tajine looks like an upside down ice cream cone but instead of a point, its kind of rounded so you can lift it off the bottom part which looks like a thick pie crust that has a little shelf around the edge to set the edge of the ice cream cone on.

Tajine dish

Now couscous is not kitchen dish but an actual food name - couscous is not cooked in couscous. I have no clue what's in it but its really really delish! Couscous is served EVERY Friday in Morocco - and I mean every Friday. Some Moroccans that I have talked to say that they don't like couscous because they have been having it every Friday of their life. I don't know why they have it every Friday but they do. There are different types of couscous but we (my roommates and I) usually get a vegetable couscous or a sweet raisin/dates couscous and its always comes with chickpeas. Couscous is meant to be eaten by hand. To do that, you ball it up in your right hand (don't eat with your left!) and plop it in your mouth. Some people eat it with spoons only out of the main middle dish. Me and my roommates opt to do it the very American way - with separate plates and spoons.

Couscous

Dinner: Dinners are light and are served around eight or nine at night. It's usually pasta or soup. Their famous delish soup is called Harira. Everyone knows what pasta is - our usual pasta dishes are spaghetti or baked mac and cheese (my favorite!!). Harira, well, I don't know exactly what's in it (I know it has chickpeas and lentil - sometimes) but I do know it's really good. I also know it takes a while to make and this soup is eaten during Ramadan to break the fast and during the end of the wedding ceremony sometimes. There is a restaurant in Meknes that is known for their Harira soup - they are busy busy busy during dinner time.

Harira

Every second of the day: Mint tea (will do a mint tea culture blog for you). If you get invited over for anything at all at a Moroccan's house, you will get served tea. They sure do love their tea. I do to, but I don't think my teeth do.

Mint Tea