Author: haleemahahmad

For my summer language abroad program, my Arabic language institute is based in Rabat, the capital city of Morocco. Something remarkable about the experience is that it is more than learning Arabic in the classroom, but also learning about the people, the culture, the similarities, the peculiarities, and also the challenges.  Hence, most of my weekends were dedicated to exploring the city of Rabat or traveling to other places in the country. Here are five things I love about the country!

• Cats: If you love cats, you would love Morocco. My first daughter made me fall in love with cats as she adores them. On a typical evening, when I decide to take a stroll in the neighborhood, I may count up to 20 cats. I asked my teacher about it, and he said there are even fewer cats in Rabat, and I would most likely see more if I went to the villages, as most households have at least 5 cats. It is usually a beautiful sight to watch the furry babies gathered in circles around the neighborhood.

• Family Life: This, I noticed first when I visited the city of Tanger in the northern part of Morocco, and while I later noticed the same in Rabat, it is more prominent in other places, probably because Rabat is a capital city. I noticed that in the evenings, especially from Friday to Sunday, families would gather in nearby parks, having picnics, playing, and just having fun. I found this fascinating as it appears to me to be a very good way of building social cohesion in the communities. Almost everyone in the neighborhood knows one another as they meet in the community park almost weekly – grandparents, fathers, mothers, and children. You would easily see the older ones sitting in groups talking, teenagers and children playing soccer, tennis, or some other kinds of games, mothers chatting happily while keeping an eye on the children, and the fathers also having their own chats. It is usually a beautiful sight to behold.

• Multicultural: I first caught a glimpse of this while still in the US. Often, when I tell people that I got the SLA grant to study in Morocco, the usual response is ‘French or Arabic?’ Upon getting to Rabat, I realized how prevalent the French language is in the country. A lot of Morrocans are bilingual or multilingual, speaking a combination of Arabic, Darija (Moroccan Native Arabic), Amazigh, French, Spanish, and English amongst other languages. In Rabat, while grocery shopping or interacting with a taxi driver, or dealing with other locals, I noticed that they often start by speaking to me in French. This, I later got to know, is because a lot of Balck people domiciled in Morocco are from Francophone African countries. My colleague at the Arabic institute, who lives with a host family, once remarked that his host family has three children, the youngest who is in elementary school comes home with homework in Arabic, and the child in middle school comes home with homework in French, while the highschooler comes home with homework in the English language. Knowing how beneficial it is to be multilingual, I particularly love the multilingualism of Morocco. The challenge with this for someone who has come to the country specifically to learn Arabic is that you have to be intentional about speaking Arabic with locals, otherwise, you would just continue conversing with locals in English and/or French.

• Trees: I love nature, and Morocco has it in abundance. Often, my colleagues would arrange for us to go to the beach to go watch the sunset. But something that struck me and which I really love is the abundance of trees and greenery everywhere. I observed for days and could conveniently conclude that every building between my house and my language institute either has a tree in front of it, or flower pots with various small trees, shrubs, and flowers. This is not only beautiful but also very good for the environment.

• Eco-consciousness: The issue of climate change and sustainability has been at the forefront of global discourse with many countries committing to making efforts to be more eco-conscious and take steps toward preserving the earth’s resources. I was very impressed when I arrived in Rabat and I did not find a lot of plastic waste around. Back in the US, I am quite used to being given plastic bags when grocery shopping, and a typical trip to the store can leave me with up to a dozen plastic bags that I have to make a conscious effort to recycle or it may end up in the ocean. In Morocco, the first time I went grocery shopping, I was expecting the attendant to pack my things when she asked for my shopping bag. I didn’t have any, so, I had to pay for a reusable shopping bag for my grocery. Where it is provided, it is usually brown paper bags or light recyclable bags So, I learned to always go shopping with my shopping bag, and my tote bags from school came in very handy.  

I am from Nigeria, a country in Western Africa, while Morocco, the site of my summer language abroad program is a country in Northern Africa. Before leaving the US, I naively assumed that Moroccan food would be very similar to what I was used to back home. To my surprise, the food is very different. Going through the grocery stores, the main foodstuff that is common to us are rice, bread, pasta, and noodles. Others are remarkably different!  

Morocco is rich in different cuisines, and one remarkable thing about their meals is the use of lots of spices, which not only adds flavor to meals but is also very nutritional and medicinal. My language institute provides us with breakfast and lunch while we would usually go to restaurants for dinner or prepare something individually. In my experience, the three most popular components of Moroccan meals are bread, shay’ and tagine. The first thing I noticed about meals in Morocco was the presence of bread with virtually every meal – breakfast, lunch, or dinner.  For breakfast, we would usually have bread and other pastries with jam, honey, hard-boiled egg or omelet, cheese, as well as shay’ (tea). For lunch and dinner, we would usually have bread with different kinds of soup, along with other meals. My favorite soups have been meatball soup and lentil soup.

Moroccan shay’ or tea is another regular accompaniment to meals especially breakfast. No breakfast is complete without shay’! This tea is not made with a tea bag as we do in America. Instead, it consists of several herbs brought to boil. You could have shay’ with or without sugar depending on your preference, and it is often served with na’na (mint) leaves. Moroccan cuisine also has lots of local pastries and deserts ranging from very sweet to sweet-sour to sour taste.

Tagine is the Moroccan word that refers to both the name of the cooking pot used in preparing the dish as well as the name of the meal itself.  A tagine is usually cone-shaped and can be made from ceramic or unglazed clay but the latter adds a rustic, earthy flavor and aroma to whatever is being cooked in it. The base of a tagine is wide and shallow while the conical lid helps to return condensed steam back to the food. The tagine is usually placed above the heat source and not directly in contact with the fire or heat.

With regards to the meal, there are different types of tagine depending on the constituents as it can be prepared with various types of protein or vegetable combinations. Most recipes layer meat, chicken, or vegetable along with spices, oil, and water. As the mixture cooks, a stew-like consistency develops giving a flavourful sauce that is often scooped with bread or sometimes served with couscous which is another common feature in Morrocan cuisine. I am most familiar with tagine bi dajaja (chicken tagine), tagine bi lahm (meat tagine), and tagine bi khudar (vegetarian tagine). Of these, my favorite is tagine bi dajaja (chicken tagine), and the ingredients for this include chicken, olive oil, potatoes, onions, tomatoes, green bell pepper, red bell pepper, carrots, black pepper, garlic, ginger, salt, coriander, cauliflower, and squash.

To prepare the meal, you first layer the tagine vessel with onions to prevent the chicken from sticking to the bottom and burning. In a separate bowl, you add oil, water, and then the spices ( salt, black pepper, garlic, ginger, coriander, etc). Then you put in your chicken, carrot, potatoes, squash, and cauliflower which must have already been cut into sizeable chunks, and mix it thoroughly. Thereafter, you start to layer these on the onion base in the tagine. Lastly, pour the remaining broth into the bowl on the mixture and add water if necessary. Then, put the tagine above the heat source, wait for about 20 minutes, and your dish is ready!