What to Eat in Marrakech: A Local Family's Moroccan Food Guide

Tagine: more than one dish

A tagine is both the clay pot with its cone-shaped lid and everything cooked in it. Classics include chicken with preserved lemon and olives, lamb with prunes and almonds, and kefta meatballs with egg. A good tagine is cooked slowly; if it arrives in five minutes, it was probably not made for you.

Couscous is for Friday

In Moroccan families, couscous is the Friday lunch, shared from one big dish after midday prayers. Many restaurants serve it every day for visitors, but if you can, eat it on a Friday at a family table or a local restaurant.

Tanjia, the Marrakech speciality

Tanjia is the dish Marrakech claims as its own: beef or lamb with preserved lemon, garlic, cumin and saffron, sealed in a tall clay urn and left for hours in the hot ashes of a hammam furnace. You will find it around Jemaa el-Fna and in the medina's small grills.

Street food worth queuing for

• Harira: a tomato, lentil and chickpea soup, a comfort food all year and the traditional way to break the fast in Ramadan.
• Msemen and baghrir: square flaky flatbread and spongy semolina pancakes, perfect with honey for breakfast.
• Brochettes and grilled sardines from the stalls.
• Babbouche: snail soup in a spiced broth, for the curious.
• Sfenj: Moroccan doughnuts, best eaten hot.

The easiest way to try everything safely is with someone who knows the stalls; our Marrakech food tour does exactly that.

Mint tea and sweets

Mint tea is green tea brewed with fresh mint and, traditionally, plenty of sugar (you can ask for less). It is poured from a height to make a little foam, and offering it is a sign of welcome. Pair it with almond briouats, chebakia sesame cookies or gazelle horns.

Learn to cook it yourself

If one meal stays with you, learn to make it. In our cooking class in Marrakech you shop at the market, cook a tagine, salads and bread, and take the recipes home.