Welcome to Morocco and the Fes Médina, which means ‘walled city’. This is the oldest part of Fes which was established in 800ad. Today Rosie and The Operator are going to introduce you to the food of the Medina and what we ate in Fes in general.
As you walk through the gates prepare to be transported a thousand years back in time. The alley ways are narrow, there are no cars. Donkeys and push carts transport all goods around the labyrinth of 9,500 alleyways. The Medina is a living breathing city of 156,000 who call it home.
Houses, shops, mosques, schools, workshops and markets are all here in these narrow twisting alleyways. It is quite an overwhelming place full of sensory overload so Rosie and The Operator have broken their day long tour of the Medina down into different categories and posts.
Today is all about the food of Morocco. Just prepare to be amazed at the food stalls in the Medina and the food we have been eating in general whilst in Fes. All so fresh, flavourful, colourful and tasty.
This bakery below only sells pitas from its small window, out of the wee tiled kitchen which is the size of a wardrobe.
The food market in our neighborhood of the 2.8km diameter Medina is all concentrated in one area down a few streets. Each stall holder pretty much only sells a couple of things and each stall is different. The stalls themselves are normally simple tables with their wares on top in the alleyways.
Down another set of streets are the stalls selling freshly cooked take out style and ready made foods, there was nothing out of the ordinary there, certainly nothing strange and weird, everything is quite simple here food wise just magical on the taste buds with the beautiful addition of spices and herbs.
Rosie preferred taking photos down the quieter, supermarket streets of fresh food. The busy alleyways full of people are Rosies worst nightmare.
The narrow streets are spotlessly clean around the food stalls and everywhere else in the streets of the Medina to be exact. These people have lived in such close proximity for a thousand years….they know the importance of health and hygiene. Rosie wonders how all of the rubbish gets transported out of the Medina as she saw no evidence of any and certainly no rubbish bins around.
This old man below was selling live trussed roosters…..he would dispatch them for you when you brought one with a deft twist of the neck and a final squawk from the now deceased.
Then you come to this, the Fes equivalent of a supermarket! The Medina Minimart! Lol
We had lunch today just outside the Medina and Rcif Square, Rosie had a traditional Chicken Pastille – basically a traditional Moroccan pie….a savory inner with icing sugar and cinnamon on the top. It was very rich, dry and a bit too aromatic for my taste..plus it was cold, Rosie wasn’t risking food poisoning. Rosie was given another….but it still wasn’t much better….this local delicacy was a fail. The Operator had good ole piping hot beef kebabs…they were great.
This meal we had was in a local restaurant, we were invited up 4 flights of stairs to the roof terrace for lunch. Puffing, Rosie got to the top of the stairs and was just blown away by the setting and view, it was lovely.
We were the only ones up there though and opted for the ground floor of the restaurant where all the locals were sitting in intense conversations over cups of thick black coffee or mint tea. The waiter looked a bit concerned we wanted to sit down here…Rosie is not sure if it was because she was the only woman in the café amongst 40 men…it was Holy Day, every café was full of men chatting and having a coffee/tea before prayers, there was not any other woman in sight. Or, most likely, whether he would get the waiter in trouble for not sitting in the premium upstairs seats.
Rosie must say this dining experience kind of put her off going to any other sit down restaurants in the locality. Rosie loved the hustle and bustle of the busy street and the comings and goings…but the restaurant itself was pretty grimy from the dusty road and dirty due to neglect and no regular cleaning…that is actually giving it a kind description too.
Rosie shook her head when a waiter kicked a pile of used napkins, that had blown off his tables onto the footpath, another foot into the gutter and just walked off. Job done, he had cleared up.
They had a huge selection of nice looking pastries and cakes at this restaurant that you could take away, they looked really good….except for the wasps, bees and flies that actually were literally trying to take them away. You get my drift. The Operator had to go up to the counter to pay for our meal on his own cause it was in the wasp zone and honestly there was a swarm of them…Rosie wasn’t going to risk being stung.
Our bellies survived though…and from then on we ate in our Hotel or street food, which sounds ironic. Well sussed out street food I might add, investigated by The Operator for at least 10 minutes before committing. During that time he rated the stand on its cleanliness, neatness, storage of the food waiting to be cooked, cooking methods and use of water…only bottled to be used.
Rosie was banned from buying some weird looking fruit off a young guy because as he was peeling it he then dunked the peeled fruit to wash it into a bucket of water of unknown origin……warning bells to The Operator, lucky for Rosie, she wouldn’t have thought of that.
Rosie was allowed to buy these desert pastries from this duly vetted street vendor. These were the same style of pastries as in the restaurant of the ‘living swarm’…not a bee in sight and he had only just started his rounds of the square said The Operator so everything is fresh. And fresh they were, they were sticky wee filo morsels, stuffed with a type of light coloured minced fruit and drizzled with honey on top. Yummo!
Rosie sent The Operator out tonight to get dinner…..street food again…we watched this guy from the roof of our Riad. He was busy all evening….and was prepared to be busy judging by his stack of sausages. The seller didn’t speak English…we still do not know what we ate…it was cooked on a charcoal grill in a skin that looked like a sausage. Then he cut it up inside the beautiful fresh pita. It was grainy like couscous, dry and very tasty…we asked the Riad guys what it was and he deadpanly answered…dog. Then did a shifty sideways glance to his pal…..cleared his throat and said, just joking……..its offal…hmmmm.
The street food in Plaza Rcif is quite abundant, to day we thought we would give the The Snail Man a shot. In the pot was a large heated vat of broth that he kept adding snails too. He dished us a bowl of snails to share and a bowl each of broth and some bread and salad.
The snails….well, weren’t anything to rave about, Rosie prefers them with garlic and butter….the broth was meaty rich and OK, the salad was crispy fresh and delicious. Dont worry, The Operator had checked out the salad…most of it was cooked, peeled or didn’t need washing.
The funny part…we sat in front of the cart and ate the meal…but didn’t finish it all….he cleared our plates with his hand by scooping up our leftovers in front of us, and eating them…then, when he had eaten everything on our plates, he took them away. Zero waste. love it!
This is our breakfast every morning in the Riad….eggs, cakes, crumpets, honey, marmalade, butter, orange juice and the best coffee ever…strong and with a touch of spice so it tastes a little Christmasy. The eggs are done different every day and are quite amusing.
The first night that we arrived in the Riad it was quite late and we opted to dinner in the Hotel. It was probably the best meal we had in Morocco and we repeated it on one other night as well. The meal itself was over 4 courses with 3 of them being set. You picked your main course which was a range of tangine cooked dinners in small individual clay pots.
1st course was a selection of salads…just delicious! The mixture of tastes, freshness and spices was incredible!
Rosie’s tangine was chicken with vege and couscous. Just melt in your mouth divine.
The Operators tangine was beef, prunes and almonds. So rich and scrummy.
3rd Course was a desert of orange slices, banana and cinnamon – so simple, so delicious and so refreshing after the heavier tastes of the meal.
The 4th Course was beautiful almond biscuits and mint tea. This was also our welcome tray when we arrived at the Riad….Mint tea is given everywhere, it is delicious and refreshing.
Ps – we are in an alcohol free country….a nice detox for Rosie and The Operator.
Tomorrow we are going to look at the amazing buildings that are in the maze of the Medina, the beauty you come across down the unassuming alley ways is quite incredible.
