Food and Drink

You can eat well in Morocco. Every city has a choice of restaurants to suit all tastes and budgets. If you are looking for something exotic, then head for the medina, where restaurants are usually less expensive. In general, Moroccans are a lot better at their own cuisine than at international cooking. Moroccan food is traditionally prepared by women to recipes handed down from mother to daughter. Men traditionally make the tea and are not often allowed near the stove. The best food is eaten at home, but if you are not lucky enough to be invited, the nearest thing to Moroccan home-cooking is one of the rind restaurants.

Eating Out

• During Ramadan many restaurants in tourist areas remain open, but
  visitors should be discreet when eating or drinking during the day.
• Breakfast is usually from 7:30 to 10 am, lunch from noon to 2:30 pm
  and dinner from 8 to 11 pm, although opening hours are vague.
• A meal usually starts with raw or cooked salads, followed by a tagine
  (stew of vegetables or fruits with meat, chicken or fish) or couscous.
  Dessert is usually fresh fruit, or Moroccan pastries with mint tea.
• Some Moroccan food takes a long time to prepare and so needs to be
  ordered well in advance, when you book the table.
• In most places the dress code is relaxed, although in more upmarket places in Marrakech and Casablanca it is a good idea to dress up for the occasion.
• Menus are generally written in French and Arabic, and in English at more touristy places.
• Traditionally a Moroccan meal is eaten with two fingers and the thumb of the right hand. Bread is served in large quantities and is often used as cutlery to scoop up food.

Moroccan Restaurants

• Most upmarket hotels have both an international and a Moroccan restaurant (usually better), decorated in traditional style with banquettes around low, round tables.
• Moroccan restaurants are usually the precinct of tourists, as locals prefer to eat Moroccan food at home, and French or Italian food when they go out. A meal in these places is often accompanied by a floor-show with musicians and a belly dancer.
• Some riad restaurants in Marrakech charge a fixed price for an evening of delights, which include a steady flow of culinary pleasures, wine, an exotic décor and a warm ambience, with live traditional music and dancing shows.

International Cuisine

Vegetarian Cuisine

• Vegetarians can have a hard time eating in Morocco, where many people find it hard to comprehend the concept.
• Most salads are based on vegetables only, but there is a wide choice. Tagines can be served without meat, but are often cooked in meat stock or meat fat.
• If you are eating in someone's home, your hosts will usually serve you
  meat even if you have told them you do not eat it, as they will assume
  that you do not eat meat because you cannot afford it. Leave the meat
  if you must, but eat something so as not to offend your hosts.
• Markets have plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables, as well as excellent
  yoghurt to supplement your diet.

Street Food

• Moroccans like to eat at gargottes: street stalls and small cafés that sell inexpensive and often excellent snacks such as harira soup, salads and brochettes (skewers of meat), merguez (spicy sausages) and simple tagines.
• The most obvious place to sample street food is on Djemaa el-Fna in
  Marrakech or the stalls outside Essaouira harbour.
• Tourists are often wary of the hygiene standards in these places, but if
  it's popular with the locals then the food is usually fresh.

Drinks, Wine and Beer

• Green tea with mint is the national drink, but Arabic coffee is also served. Morocco has wonderful oranges so most places sell fresh orange juice in season. Almond milk and banana with milk are also popular.
• Soft drinks and bottled mineral water are available everywhere.
• Morocco is a Muslim country so, while alcohol is widely available in tourist hotels, restaurants and bars, it is generally not easy to buy it in medinas or in rural areas.
• Moroccans who do drink alcohol often prefer a cool local beer, either Stork or Flag. Hotels usually have imported beers, though at double the price of the local brew.
• Moroccan wines, mostly from the Meknes region or from Haha near Essaouira, are a little heavy but quite drinkable. The most common wines are the red Cabernet, Ksar, Siraoua, the rosé Gris de Boulaoune and the dry white Special Coquillages. The red Clairet de Meknés is quite rare but excellent.

Restaurant Prices