Couscous
A Nomad’s Tent in Morocco’s Tafilalet Region, 2003
My guide, Ali, was always on the lookout for photo opportunities for me. He heard that there was a large encampment of nomads near the old village of Taouz, only a few kilometers from the Algerian border. After buying fresh meat, vegetables, fruit and cookies or ‘bisqwee’, as Ali called them, we set off to find the nomads with Moktar, a relative of the nomad family. We would be welcome in any case but the nomads, who rarely ate fresh vegetables, fruit or beef, would be especially happy to see us and our gifts.
As usual I was deposited with the women and Ali and Moktar sat with the men. It was a large group. Women and men were in separate tents. It’s kind of an odd feeling to sit among a group of women who have never seen a western woman up close. The matriarch made sure that all knew that I was a guest and she kept calling out the word “Mahabarbek!” which means “You are welcome.” And I would respond with “Chokran bezzef” which means “Thank you very much.” Whenever there was a lull in the conversation, she’d call out to me and I’d answer. It’s the custom, rather like ritual greeting of the Berbers.
The younger women set about to prepare the meal. They mixed up dough for bread: kneading and shaping it into round balls before baking it in a tiny mud oven. More experienced women made the couscous, fluffing the steaming hot mixture in their bare hands over and over until it was the perfect texture. Meat was chopped, stewed and grilled and all the while glass after glass of tea was served to other women who held babies and waited on the matriarch.
First we were served skewers of goat liver wrapped in caul fat and grilled. That is my favorite, and when I was offered a skewer, I reached for the whole skewer. Ooops! That was a faux pas. A slight shake of the head of the woman serving me told me just to take one piece. I felt as if I had given the women something to talk about and it wouldn’t be complimentary.
I should have known better as I had noticed that even children will not take a whole doughnut, called sfenj in Morocco. They take a part of a doughnut and leave the rest on the serving dish. That was a revelation for me as I had never in my life taken part of a doughnut.
The photo above shows the women eating couscous or k’seksu as the Berbers call it. Here they use spoons, but spoons are a recent development. Ali’s mother scoops rice in her hand and with a few shakes has shaped it into a ball and she pops that into her mouth. You can’t tell from the photo, but each woman keeps her spoon in her section of the dish. She wouldn’t dream of putting her spoon into another section even if her favorite morsel was lying in plain sight. It makes eating from a communal dish possible.
After the couscous is served, a tagine is presented. It has been stewing long enough and the meat is tender.
Tagine Technique
The fresh bread, torn into pieces, lies on the tray holding the tagine. It is torn into small bits and used to dip into the sauce or to grasp a vegetable or piece of meat. Again each woman keeps to her section of the tagine. One woman has the bread basket at her side and it is her job to be sure everyone has plenty of bread. Eating meat is prized by Berbers and if someone must leave before the meat has been served, they will be given their share of meat to take with them.
If you want to experience a feast with nomads, contact Ali at www.adventureswithali.com