Watercolor with Michael Solovyev

 Traditional Dishes

One of the most striking features of Moroccan cooking is the quality and fquality and freshnes of the ingredients. Produce comes from a land without pesticides, chemicals,

hormones or preservatives. Animals are slaughtered just hours before they are este The meat you are offered will generally be mutton, not lamb. Market vegetables whave been gathered that morning. Spices, herbs, fresh fruit, nuts and dried fruthae an invigorating vitality completely removed from the packaged and imported products available in much of Europe and North America.

lo encourage you, here are explanations of some of the most common and popular Moroccan traditional dishes (for details of Arab and French pronunciation,see Language,

Harira: a thick soup of chick peas, lentils and haricot beans often flavoured witn mutton or chicken, lemon and tarragon.mutton or chicken, lemon and tarragon.

Brochettes: Grilled kebabs of mutton, liver and fat.

Kefta: Spicy meatballs made of minced mutton and offal, often served in a negg sauce.

Pastilla/bastilla: A pie made up of multiple layers of flaky pastry filled With y

chopped pigeon meat, eggs, almonds and spices. Chicken or fish may be used instead of pigeon.

Tagine: Along with couscous, this is the most universal of Moroccan dishes -

slowly simmered stew,cooked in its own juices in an earthenware bowl with a distinctive conical lid. The tagine provides the foundation for using a whole spectrum

of ingredients, spices and styles. The most popular variants found on most menus across Morocco are: tagine de viande (mutton stew cooked with vegetables or serve

alone with prunes); tagine de poisson (bream or sardine stew cooked with tomatoe and herbs); tagine de lapin (rabbit stew); and tagine de poulet aux olives et citron

(a delicious chicken stew cooked With lemon and olives). The lemon gives a deliciou bitter zest to the meat.

Mechoui: Lamb roasted whole on a spit or baked in a special oven. This delicate and fragrant meat, far removed1 from the usual mutton, is eaten with bread. It is, howevel

an elaborate luxury which is often only available if ordered well in advance.

Couscous: This dish is made from half-baked flour which is then ground into semolina-like grains. A perecty prepared couscous is laboriously cooked in a succession of steamings and oilings that allow each grain to cook while retaining adistinct granular texture. couscous served outside of a home or a good restaurant is

unlikely to be found at its best. It is usually accompanied by sept légumes (seven steamed vegetables) with the odd lump of mutton. It can also be served as a pudding

with sugar, cinnamon and rich, warm goat's milk.

Cornes de gazelle: Croissant-like pastries filled with honey and almonds.

What are the 5 reasons to go to Essaouira?

Discover the medieval streets, contemplate the beauty of the city or admire the fish market, there are a thousand and one reasons to spend a stay in Essaouira.

There are many reasons that lead you to visit Essaouira:

medieval streets

Most people recognize Essaouria from Game of Thrones. Wandering the winding streets of the UNESCO World Heritage Site medina is much more interesting than watching it on TV! This is one of the magical places  not to be missed during your stay.

The beauty of the city

Essaouira is a great place to take things slow, whether it's a peaceful afternoon of cycling or pottery in the many shops selling spices, painted bowls, music and colorful clothing. The market experience here is 100 times better than in Marrakech!

The fish market

After seeing the local fishermen hard at work, we picked out some fresh prawns, lobster and fish and cooked it in one of the many fish market tents. Delicious !

artsy culture Even the oranges look artsy in this city where live music, pretty artwork and reggae-themed stalls abound.

The landscape

Whether you prefer the long (windy) beach, splashing rock pools, or 18th-century architecture, it's all beautiful to look at.

Essaouira (/ˌɛsəˈwɪərə/ ESS-ə-WEER-ə; Arabic: الصويرة, romanized: aṣ-Ṣawīra; Tachelhit: ⵜⴰⵚⵚⵓⵔⵜ, romanized: Taṣṣort, formerly ⴰⵎⴳⴷⵓⵍ Amegdul), known until the 1960s as Mogador, is a port city in the western Moroccan region of Marakesh-Safi, on the Atlantic coast. It has 77,966 inhabitants as of 2014.

The foundation of the city of Essaouira was the work of the Moroccan 'Alawid sultan Mohammed bin Abdallah, who made an original experiment by entrusting it to several renowned architects in 1760, in particular Théodore Cornut and Ahmed al-Inglizi, who designed the city using French captives from the failed French expedition to Larache in 1765, and with the mission of building a city adapted to the needs of foreign merchants. Once built, it continued to grow and experienced a golden age and exceptional development, becoming the country's most important commercial port but also its diplomatic capital between the end of the 18th century and the first half of the 19th century.

Name and etymology

The name of the city is usually spelled Essaouira in Latin script, and الصويرة in Arabic script. Both spellings represent its name in Moroccan Arabic, ṣ-Ṣwiṛa. This is the diminutive^[2] (with definite article) of the noun ṣuṛ which means "wall (as round a yard, city), rampart".^[3] The pronunciation with pharyngealized /ṣ/ and /ṛ/ is a typically Moroccan development. In Classical Arabic, the noun is sūr (سور, with plain /s/ and /r/), diminutive suwayrah (سويرة); this is the only form cited in all dictionaries of Classical Arabic. Hence, the spelling of the name in Arabic script according to the classical pronunciation is السويرة al-Suwayrah (with sīn not ṣād).

In the Berber language, which is spoken by a sizeable proportion of the city's inhabitants, it is called Taṣṣort, meaning "the small fortress".

In Moroccan Arabic, a single male inhabitant is called ṣwiṛi, plural ṣwiṛiyin, a single female inhabitant is ṣwiṛiya, plural ṣwiṛiyat. In the Berber language, a single male inhabitant is u Taṣṣort, plural: ayt Taṣṣoṛt, a single female inhabitant is ult Taṣṣort, plural ist Taṣṣort.

Until the 1960s, Essaouira was generally known by its Portuguese name, Mogador. This name is probably a corruption of the older Berber name Amegdul (spelled أمقدول in Arabic), which is mentioned by the 11th-century geographer al-Bakrī.^[4]

History

Archaeological research shows that Essaouira has been occupied since prehistoric times. The bay at Essaouira is partially sheltered by the island of Mogador, making it a peaceful harbor protected against strong marine winds.

Antiquity

Essaouira has long been considered one of the best anchorages of the Moroccan coast. The Carthaginian navigator Hanno visited in the 5th century BC and established the trading post of Arambys.

Around the end of the 1st century BCE or early 1st century CE, the Berber king Juba II established a Tyrian purple factory, processing the murex and purpura shells found in the intertidal rocks at Essaouira and the Iles Purpuraires. This dye colored the purple stripe in the togas worn by the Senators of Imperial Rome.

A Roman villa was excavated on Mogador island.^[5] A Roman vase was found as well as coinage from the 3rd century CE. Most of the artifacts are now visible in the Sidi Mohammed ben Abdallah Museum and the Rabat Archaeological Museum.

Jewish presence

Further information: Jews in Morocco

A Jewish house in Mogador, by Darondeau (1807–1841).

Mohammed III encouraged Moroccan Jews to settle in the town and handle the trade with Europe. Jews once comprised the majority of the population,[13] and the Jewish quarter (or mellah) contains many old synagogues. The town also has a large Jewish cemetery. The city flourished until the caravan trade died, superseded by direct European shipping trade with sub-Saharan Africa.[14] Changes in trade, the founding of Israel, the resulting wars with Arab states, and the independence of Morocco all resulted in Sephardic Jews leaving the country. As of 2017, Essaouira had only three Jewish inhabitants.[15] On 15 January 2020, King Mohammed VI visited "Bayt Dakira", a Jewish heritage house, in Essaouira.[16]