Cooking holidays / vacation gourmets / culinary tours:
These particular gourmet tours offer cooking lessons and workshops held in a purpose-built teaching kitchen in a small house, riad or just in the outdoors depending on our itinerary. Each session is preceded by a brief stop where participants, accompanied by the cook or the tour guide, are invited out on shopping expeditions to the local produce market. Once in the place they will get an introduction into the real Moroccan cuisine and the dishes being prepared.
Why and how we can show real experiences?
A huge part of the travel experience is getting to know local traditions, history and culture. Happily, you can get in touch with all three aspects of a national identity just by eating.
Whether through the highly structured affair of some big Riads’ restaurants ceremonies or the simple pleasures of Moroccan guesthouses , sampling a country’s cuisine in the way the locals themselves enjoy it is a sure-fire way of making your trip that much more memorable. Here are a few tips to turn you into a locavore:
- Research, research, research
There is no shortage of food and travel information these days so researching your destination couldn’t be easier. In addition to the usual travel websites, the food and drink sections of local offers, there are as much local food blogs that feature food haunts and dining tips on his on the hidden foodie gems of Morocco , universally considered a great spot to research local food traditions (including recipes aplenty).
- Hit the streets
It’s hard to beat street food as one of the most authentic and vibrant ways to experience the local buzz. Sample spicy tagines by the roadside in while driving, or lose yourself in Marrakech’s hectic square, Djema El-Fna, for snails traditionally picked from their shells with safety pins and gigantic meat kebabs. And let’s not forget Fez, possibly the country’s greatest street food destination with classics such as the ubiquitous pastilla, sweet and stylish couscous and soupy Harrira.
- Shop with the locals
Think about your own habits and how you eat and shop for food at home. Seafood and produce markets are typically teeming and humming with local life on market days. Try haggling over the morning’s sardines catch at Essaouira’s fish market or jostling with locals in Meknes best succulent marinated olives or freshly made bread at the local bakeries of northern cities. Even Marrakech spice markets can offer clues as to local dining preferences, like the incredible array of spices invloved in local cuisines.
- Ask a local
Our local guides are usually more than happy to share where locals like to go out to dinner on week-end nights – and even take you there and back. Instead of directions to nearby restaurants, ask the local teams where they would go for a meal with their friends. And don’t be shy in getting a recommendation from the barman or wait staff for your next pit stop whilst brooding over a coffee or nursing an early evening hot spiced-tea.
- Time your visit
Food festivals and celebrations are a fun and meaningful way to check out the local history and food culture. Holiday breaks is steeped in tradition in many countries.The number and sheer variety of food festivals are also endless and teem with amazing varietties of dishes that would be on offer exceptionally at specific times of a year.
- Broaden your (travel) horizons
Be adventurous and explore beyond cities into the fringes and suburbia, where places specialising in particular cuisines can often be found. A short bus or train trip can see you enjoying Bedouin bread and Baddaz in fes houses.
- Open your eyes and follow your nose
It might sound like stating the obvious, but a higher ratio of locals against camera-wielding tourists and a menu written entirely in the local language remain pretty good yardsticks for whether a restaurant is local favourite. The test applies equally whether you’re choosing a spot to eat at the local high Atlas village . And why not follow your nose and go where the food smells take you, such as local residents plying chichken or goat tagine straight from their kitchen windows in a Kasbah.
- Trust the experts
Joining a food tour with a local guide is a quick and easy way to familiarise yourself with where the locals shop and eat and even try some of the local produce. Numerous tours can be found on the page with one of the best by far, offering self-guided itineraries to legendary food.
