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Moroccan cuisine : as Morocco is at the crossroads of many
civilisations; its cuisine has been influenced by the native Berber cuisine, the
Arabic
Andalusian cuisine, brought with them by Moors and later Moriscos when they left Spain, the Turkish
cuisine from the Turkish occupied Algeria and the Middle Eastern
cuisines brought by the Arabs.
The one Moroccan dish most people are familiar with is couscous which is of very
old, probably Berber, origin.
The most commonly eaten red meat in Morocco is lamb. The breed of sheep in North Africa has much of its fat concentrated in
its tail. This means that Moroccan lamb does not have the pungeant, reasty flavor that Western lamb and mutton can have.
The history of Morocco is reflected in its cuisine. Political refugees left Baghdad in the Middle Ages and settled in Morocco,
bringing with them traditional recipes that are now common in Morocco but forgotten in the Middle East. We know this because
there are striking similarities between a 12th century (Common Era) collection of recipes by Al-Baghdadi, and contemporary
Moroccan dishes. A signature characteristic is cooking fruit with meat, for example quince with lamb or apricots with chicken.
The same thing happened when many Morisco : Muslim refugees where expelled from
Spain during the Inquisition, this is
why Moroccan cuisine is so rich.
Among the most famous Moroccan dishs are Couscous, Pastilla, Tagine, Tangia.
See also: cuisine
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