Decisions, Decisions
Rissani, Morocco 2000
A Haratine woman sorts dates on a threshing floor in a small village. She has her work cut out for her. I didn’t ask questions about the sorting. But I do know that some of the dates would be smashed into a large, sticky mass. When these are served, in a Berber home, the mass of dates is brought to the eating area with a dish of smen or fermented butter, sometimes churned from camel’s milk. The smell of smen is rather off-putting, but it tastes good on a smashed date. The family who served it to me told me not to eat more than one date with smen as it would make me sick. They were right, but it wasn’t I who became sick, it was my guide who had eaten more than his share.
For your tour of Rissani and the famed Erg Chebbi, contact alimouni@Hotmail.com or see his website www.adventureswithali.com