Moroccan Cuisine: Same Same But Different

In order to escape the furnace that is Agadir, I'm going to update you on what you've no doubt all been dying to hear: Moroccan food. These are some of the observations I've made over the past three weeks:

1. There are two types of Moroccan meals: tagine (slow cooked stew) and grill. There is also a faux third type of Moroccan food which they call 'couscous', but this is really just tagine on top of couscous. While this is all really delicious, it's pretty much all we've eaten for the past three weeks, which explains why we just had onion soup for lunch in 45 degree heat.

2. There are two ways in which Moroccan food can be served: touristic or local. For the tourists, there are restaurants decked out in 'traditional' decor, with beautiful tiles, great service and, if we're lucky, air conditioning (by the way, have I mentioned that it's hot?). However, for food that tastes better at half the price you can't go past the local restaurants. There aren't any tablecloths or menus and the hygeine may explain what's wrong with my stomach, but the food's exactly the same or better anyway.

3. The most ubiquitous two things about Moroccan cuisine: olives and mint tea. The olives are absolutely fantastic, and just like in Portugal and Spain are served before every meal. The mint tea is less fantastic (kind of like drinking hot toothpaste), but is served after every meal and during most business transactions.

4. I also can't write a post about Moroccan food without mentioning cactus fruit. These prickly fruits from the prickly pear cactus plant (funnily enough) are sold absolutely everywhere in the country and the taste is kind of indescribable. Think watery banana/pear and really hard passionfruit seeds. We prefer the honey soaked pastries for desert instead!

While we've enjoyed most of the food here, there really isn't enough variety, so much so that we're actually looking forward to eating English food next week!