Ramadan and Iftar in Morocco

I love food. I know everyone claims to love food, but I am not kidding. I. LOVE. FOOD.

Studying abroad in Egypt changed my life in many ways. As you know, I now have more knowledge about Egypt, its culture, Islam, its culture, and Arabic. Most importantly, however, it opened me up to many amazing foods. The exchanged broadened my taste in food, and I'm grateful because, as we've established, I love food.

Couscous part one

Food is an essential part of every culture. A lot of what I know about Morocco, I know through food.

Right now, it is the month of Ramadan. This is the month where Muslims fast and refrain from bad behaviour (gossiping, smoking, being a jerk). This month is for muslims to practice their religion devoutly and get closer to God. I think it is similar to Lent in Christianity. I wrote a little about Ramadan back when I was in Egypt. Click here to read it.

More from couscous part one

In Morocco, it is prohibited from Moroccans to eat or rink in the streets. It is highly frowned upon to eat around people who are fasting. The school provides us breakfast and lunch in order to keep us from being disrespectful.

Almost all restaurants are closed and a lot of other businesses are also closed. Traffic is crazy around 7 and it becomes hard to get a taxi because everyone is trying to get home for Iftar, the breaking of the fast. No one is really around until about 10 or 10:30 pm, after Iftar.

Ice cream after Iftar

Iftar is my dream come true. Since no one has eaten all day, Iftar is a big meal. Instead of one meal, it's more like two or three meals. Instead of beef or fish or soup, we'll have beef and fish and soup. There will also be a lot of little sides.

Iftar from day two

A lot of people begin the Iftar by eating dates and drinking milk. I've been told that they break their fast like this because this is how the prophet broke his fast. Dates also have a lot of energy in them so that could be another reason they eat them.

Other Moroccan Iftar staples include: Chebakia, a honey and sesame seed sweet; Harira, soup with pasta, chickpeas, beef, spices, etc.; olives, a middle eastern classic; and juice, forever and always delicious.

Couscous part two

I have had everything from a Moroccan dish called Tanjine to Couscous to Kebabs to fish to pizza. Moroccan food is benin (delicious) and I have been stuffing my face every minute possible.

At every meal, I am pushed to eat. Food is love, more food is more love. My Moroccan mom tells me to eat. My American-Moroccan mom (resident director) tells me to eat. My American mom does not tell me to eat but she probably would if she could.

Bae, the teapot

Finally, Moroccan tea aka Atai bnaanaa aka my true love. I learned how to make tea on day one. I made some the other night for my family. The tea is so sweet. In a teapot (berad) that holds about 2-3 cups of tea, my host mom puts about 7 cubes of sugar in. I guess sugar equals love too. I frickin' love the tea, man.


That's all for now. I hope you enjoyed this post as much as loved eating all the foods. Remember the #1 rule for exchange students: eat now, ask later. Thanks for reading.


Learn something today.

Byeeeee

Corie.