By ahblackwell
The Friday couscous tradition is one of my favorite food traditions here in Morocco, but I was especially excited for it this week because Friday was a particularly cold and rainy day. I walked home in the rain after I finished my Arabic final, attempting to avoid the puddles and land mines - the hidden pockets of water under loose tiles that explode with mud and “medina juice” when you step on them - and the smell of the couscous and the heat of the kitchen when I entered my family’s house were a wonderful relief. I cuddled up under a blanket on the couch in between my host-dad and little sister as my mom brought in the heaping pile of couscous and vegetables steaming on the huge tagine. My host-dad, my brother and I each picked up an oversized spoon and began to dig into the couscous and chickpeas (“hummus” in Darija - no, not what we think of as hummus) in our “zones” while my host-mother and sister went right in with their hands. In Morocco, many traditional meals are cooked in tagines, which are large conical clay cooking pots that allow steam from the meal to condense and drip back down into the base. The meals are brought to the table in the tagine base, and each family member is expected to only eat the food in their “zone,” or the pie-slice of the circular plate that is closest to them. Tagine meals are often eaten without using utensils. Most of the time, bread serves as a utensil, and each bite is achieved using a small piece of “khubs” as a scooper. Couscous, however, is traditionally only eaten with your hands by scooping some couscous and some vegetables into your hand, forming a ball with it, and popping the ball into your mouth. Luckily, the modern habit of using a spoon for couscous has become more common, and I am not subjected to the difficulty of forming couscous balls by hand. Although Moroccan couscous is a cultural staple, it is only eaten for lunch on Fridays. Friday is the most important day of the week, for Muslims, and almost all Moroccans head home from work or school for the afternoon prayer and to eat family couscous before returning back to their normal activities. ...continue reading "Fourth Meal: Eating and Eating and Eating in Morocco"
