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Moroccan Style Eating

Eating in local cafés, or if invited to a home, you may find yourself using your hands rather than a knife and fork when Moroccan style eating. Muslims eat only with the right hand (the left is used for the toilet), and you should do likewise. Hold the bread between the fingers and use your thumb as a scoop; it’s often easier to discard the soft center of the bread and to use the crust only as you will see many Moroccans do when eating in Morocco.

Eating from a communal plate at some one’s home, it is polite to take only what is immediately in front of you, unless specifically offered a piece of meat by the host.

Vegetarian eating

Moroccan cuisine presents distinctly limited options for vegetarians – a preference which will meet with little comprehension in most of Morocco, though restaurants in some places are becoming more aware that tourists may be vegetarian. Tajines can be requested without meat (and, with some difficulty, without meat stock), but beyond these vegetarian casseroles, and ubiquitous omelettes and sandwiches, the menus don’t present very obvious choices. Bisara (pea soup), a common breakfast dish, should be meat-free, but harira (bean soup) may or may not be made with meat stock, while most foods are cooked in animal fats.

It’s possible to maintain a balanced and reasonably interesting diet when eating in Morocco, so long as you’re not too strict, and are prepared for a few problems outside the cities. If you’re vegan, however, you will really need to come equipped and do a fair bit of cooking for yourself.

Provisions that most vegetarians will feel grateful to have brought include yeast extract, peanut butter, veggie patés/spreads, and stock cubes – which you can present to cafés (preferably a couple of hours in advance) for preparing your tajine. You might also take along a small camping gas stove and pan – canisters are cheap and readily available, and in the cheaper hotels a lot of Moroccan people cook in their rooms.

Locally, there are plenty of beans, grains, seeds and pulses available, basic cheeses, excellent yogurts, and a great selection of fruit and nuts; dates, figs, almonds and pistachio nuts can all enliven dishes. In the countryside, you may find fresh fruit and vegetables hard to obtain except during the weekly souk, but you can often buy from locals, who grow a small stock on their terraces.

In cafés and restaurants, asking for a dish sans viande ou poisson (without meat or fish) can still result in your being served chicken or lamb, so you’ll need to take the trouble to explain matters very clearly when ordering Moroccan food.

The most difficult situations are those in which you are invited to eat at someone’s house – a common occurrence in the countryside. You may find people give you meat when you have specifically asked for vegetables because they think you can’t afford it: a scenario in which you might decide that it’s more important not to offend someone showing you kindness than to be dogmatic about your own principles. Picking out vegetables from a meat tajine won’t offend your hosts; declining the dish altogether, on the other hand, may well end up with the mother/sister/wife in the kitchen getting the flak. One possible way to avoid offense when invited to a home (or to explain your needs in a restaurant) is to say that vegetarianism is part of your religion (this is normal in Hinduism and Buddhism for example), a concept that most Moroccans should have no problems with.