Food Trends

A slow-cooked stew named for the conical clay pot it steams in — lamb with prunes and almonds, or chicken with preserved lemon and olives — perfumed with saffron, ginger and cinnamon. The soul of Moroccan home cooking.

Hand-rolled semolina steamed until feather-light and piled with slow-cooked vegetables and tender meat in a fragrant broth. Traditionally the Friday family dish, it is the centrepiece of the Moroccan table.

Layers of paper-thin warqa pastry wrapped around spiced pigeon or chicken and almonds, then dusted with cinnamon and icing sugar. Sweet, savoury and ceremonial — Morocco's most dazzling pie.

A hearty tomato, lentil and chickpea soup thickened with flour and bright with coriander, ginger and lemon. The traditional dish to break the fast at Ramadan, eaten with dates and chebakia.

Whole lamb rubbed with cumin and butter and slow-roasted in an underground pit until the meat falls from the bone. A celebratory feast carved and eaten by hand, famous at Marrakech's pit-roast stalls.

Skewers of marinated lamb, beef or kefta minced meat grilled over charcoal and served with bread, cumin and harissa. The smoky heartbeat of the Jemaa el-Fnaa night market.

A smoky cooked salad of grilled aubergine and tomato mashed with garlic, cumin, paprika and olive oil, scooped up with bread. A staple Moroccan starter, served warm or cold.

Round golden Moroccan bread with a firm crust and soft crumb, baked daily in neighbourhood wood ovens and torn to scoop up every tagine and salad. The edible spoon at every Moroccan meal.

A square, flaky griddle flatbread folded and laminated with oil and semolina, served with honey and butter for breakfast or stuffed with spiced onion and meat. Crisp, chewy and irresistible from a street griddle.

Green tea brewed strong with fresh spearmint and plenty of sugar, poured from a height into small glasses to build a frothy crown. More than a drink, it is the ritual of Moroccan hospitality.