Berber Food Summary

Achraf Krafssi Berber Food

Berber Food is very important to the moroccan culture. It has it’s own way to be cooked, own ingredients, and spices. Couscous and Tajine are examples of Berber Food.

Couscous is usually eaten at lunch and dinner and should always be warm and with the vegetable sauce. Couscous is put in the pyramid shaped tajine pot. Couscous is made out of wheat grains, vegetables and meat. Now, Couscous is known all around the world but people are changing the couscous from the tradition. For example: Pork shouldn’t be put in couscous or in any other berber food.

Tajine could be made with many ingredients. For example: Tajine with lamb and plums, Tajine with chicken, Tajine with tuna, and tajine with pigeon. Like couscous it is eaten at lunch and dinner and put in a tajine pot.

Berber Food is cooked traditionally in a mud oven made with cow manure. It is warmed with trees found in the area and for special times they have charcoal. When the food is ready to be served, they put it in a tajine pot for decorations. The tajine pot is made out of clay and usually is painted with designs.

Spices are very important to each berber dish. If there is no spices in a dish then it is not berber. It is one of the most important ingredient. The most used spices are cinnamon, and cardamon. Spices are added to dishes just for taste.

In conclusion, we need to leave berber food because if I ask an American about Morocco he will say directly there is couscous and tajine which is Berber. If berber culture becomes instinct then berber food will be instinct too. As an effect, Morocco won’t be known as much as today.

Introducing Myself

My name is Achraf Krafssi. I am Moroccan and I lived all my life in Rabat (The Capital). I am Muslim but I have parties for some Christian celebrations like Christmas or Halloween. I love to learn about other cultures. I go to the Rabat American School since 2002. It is an International School which is multi-cultural. We have Berbers and Arabs. I am half Berber and half Arab. In the Muslim religion we celebrate many different kinds of Aids for example: Achoura or Aid El Kbir which we sacrifice a sheep. In Achoura, we get candy and little gifts from our parents.

Life in Morocco

I love Morocco, I was born here, live here and I study here. Some people of Morocco are very friendly, but some we need to avoid them because they may harass you. In Morocco there is a number of things you can do. You could go shopping, ice skating, paintball, Zip lines,discovery and many other things that is if fun for small and big. A great thing to do is to go to the beach. The beach is very nice in Morocco. One of the best beaches in Morocco is in Tangier. Surf fans can go to Agadir which is known for its great beaches and nice and big waves to surf on. Most people like to go to the Medina because you could find anything you want, movies, clothing, food, video games, decorations,multimedia. It is like paradise for some Moroccans. What is very popular are the movies. You could find movies that are very cheap and are not out yet in the United States. Moroccan culture is still alive. For example: Music, Clothing, Dances, Marriages are still the same. The clothing includes Babouche, Jelaba, a Fez hat, Caftan . Morocco is the best place to my point of View.

Berbers in Morocco

I was in the High Atlas Mountains learning about Berber Culture during five days . I visited several berber villages. The berbers love to listen to Ahwach. Ahwach is a berber kind of music that is listened in berber communities. They are most of the times made up of a combination of men and women. The men wear a Djellaba (A traditional dress for men) and women wear Teckchita (traditional dress)

In the MIT course we will learn about Dynasties, Berber Customs, Traditions and Origins. A dynasty is a royal family that the crown goes from father to son. In Morocco the actual dynasty is the Alaouite. Berber Customs