In the cities breakfast usually consists of a caf-au-lait with bread and butter or jam, sometimes

with La Vache Qui Rit, wedges of processed cheese that seem to have conquered much of the
developing world. The Moroccan city of Fs is famous for its harsha, an unleavened very thick
and crusty flatbread made of crushed wheat and arachide or olive oil, preferably eaten with fresh
cheese. Because the flatbread remains tasty for a long time, it is popular with travelers. Because
it is filling, peasants are also fond of it. If leavened bread is eaten for breakfast in rural areas, it is
more likely to be served with olive oil than with butter, and it is eaten with tea more often than
with coffee. Heavy agricultural work demands a substantial meal, however, so that assda or
bsissa, water-based porridges of semolina or grilled barley flour, are more common rural
breakfasts. Yesterday's leftovers of couscous or soup may, of course, do just as well.
Lunch. Lunch consists of a hot meal, which in Morocco is the most important meal of the day,
while in Algeria and Tunisia the dishes that are served for lunch or dinner are interchangeable.
Among the urban elite, especially in Algerian towns, lunch may consist of dishes from the
French cuisine, such as fried meat, french fries, and salads. In Morocco and Tunisia, most people
prefer to eat either a tajne (tagine), a stew, also called marqa, or a couscous. Marqas tend to be
more popular than couscous, especially in urban areas. Nowadays, marqas are almost invariably
prepared in pressure cookers, but most people agree that they taste much better when prepared in
a tajne, the traditional cone-shaped earthenware pots that gave this kind of dish its name.
The sauce that forms the basis of a marqa or tajne varies per region. In Morocco, saffron is
traditionally used to color the basic sauce yellow. Nowadays, saffron is nearly always replaced
by artificial yellow coloring powder, which is much cheaper but lacks taste. To make a marqa,
chopped onions and garlic cloves are fried in arachide oil into which the (artificial) saffron is
stirred. Next, fresh chopped coriander and parsley are added, then salt or "knurr," that is, stock
tablets (the brand name has become the generic name) together with spices such as black pepper,
paprika, cumin, and sometimes ginger and/or cinnamon. A famous mixed spice is rs el-hnut,
"the master of the shop," which should consist of twenty spices, among which powdered rose
buds and lavender, and, as tourists are meant to believe, the aphrodisiac "Spanish fly." Rs elhnut is classified as a "hot" spice. Consequently, it is almost exclusively used in winter. Other
"hot" spices such as black pepper, ginger, and paprika, are also used more liberally in winter than
in summer, when mild spices like cumin and cinnamon are used more. After spices have been
added, peeled and chopped tomatoes are put in, together with meat. Last of all, water is added,
after which the sauce is left to simmer until the meat is tender.
Only very little water is added to the tajne. The earthenware pot is placed on a charcoal burner,
and it takes hours for the meat and vegetables to cook in their own juices. In Tunisia, tomatoes
and harssa, a chili paste, form the basis for the sauce so that the marqa is red rather than yellow.
Otherwise, much the same spices are used, although cumin may be replaced with caraway. In
Algeria, in regions closer to Morocco, the basic sauce is yellow, while in regions closer to
Tunisia it tends to be red. Marqas are eaten with bread. In most Moroccan families, the
housewife or one of her servants prepares the dough for the bread, which is then brought to the
ferrn, the public oven, where it is preferably baked shortly before lunch, so that the bread is still
slightly warm when lunch is served. Tunisian and Algerian women often reheat the bakerybought bread before serving it.

Bread and couscous are never eaten together. While in urban areas marqas are prepared more
often than couscous, in rural areas it is the other way around. Unlike other dishes that are
associated with the countryside, however, a good couscous is considered a festive meal by urban
and rural dwellers alike. Most Maghrebi eat it for Friday lunch, Friday being the most blessed
day of the week. It is also a favorite dish for weddings and other big dinner parties, not in the
least because it is easy to prepare in great quantities. A Friday or party couscous tends to contain
more meat and a larger variety of vegetables than those eaten during the other days of the week.
Meat is quite expensive in North Africa, and especially in the countryside, both daily marqas and
different kinds of couscous consist largely of vegetables and pulses such as chickpeas, lentils,
and white beans. In coastal areas, fish, mostly deep fried, is also included.
In general, pulse-based dishes are associated with poverty. Bisra, for instance, a very thick
sauce of cooked dried and peeled broad beans to which lots of garlic, olive oil and cumin is
added, is a much loved dish, especially in winter. Yet one would not dream of serving it to
guests. The same goes for usbn, a Tunisian couscous with offal, the cheapest "meat" there is.
Instead of these cheapalbeit deliciousmeals, guests should be served dishes that consist
mostly of meat, such as the originally Ottoman l-hamm el-hl, cinnamon-and ginger-spiced veal,
served with prunes and fried almonds, or dajj ztn, chicken with green olives, salt lemon
preserve, hardboiled eggs, and, again, fried almonds. Throughout the Maghreb, bstla, originally
from Fs, has also become a favorite dish to serve guests. It is savory pie made of flaky pastry
filled with pigeon or chicken that is sprinkled with cinnamon and powdered sugar before serving.
The latter ingredients are also used to top off sweet couscouses that are served for dessert.
Tea and evening meal. As was mentioned before, in Algeria and Tunisia the dishes that are
served for lunch or dinner are interchangeable. These meals are eaten around six or seven
o'clock. In Morocco, the cash' tends to be eaten somewhere between eight and nine o'clock.
This allows women to visit each other in the afternoon and have tea together, which is followed
by coffee just before they go home. The green tea that is flavored with fresh mint and much
sugar and may be served with elghraif, flaky pastries fried in a pan and served with honey or
castor sugar, or with beghrr, leavened pancakes served with honey, butter or olive oil, or sfinj,
fritters. Although men also occasionally eat sweet pastries, throughout the Maghreb they are
typically associated with women.
Because the evening meal is served rather late in Morocco, women who stay at home have tea
with bread or harsha before they prepare dinner. Except when there are guests, dinner in
Moroccan cities is light, consisting of soup, small meatballs in a tomato sauce, or milk-based
porridges of rice, semolina, or pasta. In rural areas where those who work on the land have not
been able to come home for lunch, dinner is the main meal and more substantial