Food & Cuisine: What do people eat in Morocco? What is tagine? Is there alcohol in Morocco? Live Q&A

This episode is the audio replay of our Destination Morocco live Q&A session, on Wednesday, Dec. 13.

You can find the video version here on our YouTube channel, with lots of visuals that go with the conversation.

In this month's session, Azdean and Sam answered your questions about Morocco's fabulous food and cuisine. You've likely heard at least a bit about tagines, pastillas, mint tea and of course, couscous. But this episode will really fill in the blanks and help you place your order.

How do you order tagine when you're at a restaurant? What kinds of varieties of tagine are there? What is pastilla made from? What's the difference between tagine and tangia? What are some regional variations to the same dish? What kind of cultural practices and norms should you be aware of, whether it's when certain dishes are eaten, or how they're eaten? Is rice used in Morocco? What is the name of the bread you see everywhere in Morocco?

Then we get into ordering, including are menus in Morocco written in English, do you need to order in advance, is potable water included at Moroccan restaurants, and what are some of the prices of well-known Moroccan meals.

You may be wondering if in Morocco people generally eat late, as we often see in Europe: Azdean and Sam talk about local customs, as well as whether you can order alcohol at a restaurant, and even where you can purchase alcohol in Morocco to bring back to your riad.

And we certainly get a lot of questions about dietary considerations, gluten-free, vegetarian and vegan, allergies and food contamination concerns.

There's lots to fill up your plate in this episode, particularly for when you go to Morocco, but if you're lucky and have a Moroccan restaurant in your home town, you'll now be able to order with the confidence of an experienced connoisseur!

And don't forget to take a moment to listen to our most recent podcast episode, "How a Blind Tour Guide Shows Tourists the Best of Casablanca," a fascinating conversation with guide Khalil Nejjary, live from Hassan II Mosque this past summer. Khalil's knowledge of the mosque and Casablanca will give you a new appreciation for Morocco's biggest city:

https://destinationsmorocco.com/podcast

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Transcript

AZDEAN: 1:09

Welcome to the Destination Morocco podcast, the show that takes you way to the beautiful country of Morocco. I am your host, Azdean Elmoustaquim. In each episode, we explore Moroccan culture, history, attractions and activities real and practical information coming from experienced travelers and native Moroccans like myself. And now let's go exploring.

TED: 1:41

Hey everyone, this is Ted, the producer of Destination Morocco podcast. Just a quick note, a quick introduction to this episode. This is a recording of our live question and answer session that took place on Wednesday, December 13th 2023. We talked lots about food and the type of cuisine you can find in Morocco, how to order the type of ingredients, difference in regional dishes around the country, and it was something that involved a lot of visuals. So I really want to just take a moment here to point you to the Destination Morocco YouTube channel. Just search for Destination Morocco it's easy to find on YouTube and you'll see this video, the live Q&A from December 13th, talking about food and cuisine. You'll see the dishes that we talk about. You'll see a lot of those ingredients. So I recommend that you check out this episode, in particular, via the YouTube channel.

TED: 2:35

We are slowly adding more and more video content, either live from Morocco or with some of our guests, so we will be building up the channel more and more, but there will always be a place for the audio experience as well. It's just that certain episodes give you those visual cues which are really nice to have, and this one is a good example. So, whether listening here or watching via the YouTube channel. Thanks, as always, for tuning in. I hope you enjoyed this one. We had a really fun discussion talking about all the different kinds of food that you can try in Morocco. It'll definitely get your taste buds jumping. So how are you guys doing?

SAM: 3:16

Amazing.

TED: 3:18

Are you hungry?

SAM: 3:19

I mean look at me.

AZDEAN: 3:21

The way it looks like I miss a meal. I don't.

TED: 3:25

Well, you're going to be hungry, or soon, I think I still am, Maybe yes.

AZDEAN: 3:30

Trust me, I was looking forward to this episode. Kyu and I live for a long time. This one is the food, so I'm always hungry.

SAM: 3:39

Yeah, especially you remember Tangier, I know, I know.

AZDEAN: 3:45

I remember the tour. We had such an amazing time. The food was just beyond amazing and delicious.

TED: 3:53

Now you're interesting. I mean, obviously your wife does a lot of the cooking and stuff. Do you feel that you really miss it when you were living in Houston, or was it even that much better being able to go back home and get, maybe, honestly, I'm really spoiled because she's just incredible and the dishes that she makes are really, really authentic and traditional.

AZDEAN: 4:15

But when you go to Morocco, those dishes, when we talk about Moroccan cuisine, let's say, for example, we talk about just one dish couscous everybody makes it different From city to city, it's different from village to village, from neighborhood to neighborhood, House to house is different, so that's what makes it really really unique. Everybody makes it different their own way, they put their own spin on it and so you can never get tired of eating. It's the same dish, but it tastes different everywhere else.

SAM: 4:45

Yeah, couscous in. I remember when I was a kid. It's like in the Berber families, like we make it every day. Every evening the woman starts in the kitchen, especially in the traditional kitchen with fire and the woods. It's just 5 pm, they start cooking couscous, like that is pretty, like around 7.30 or 8. Already done? Yeah, it's amazing. Yeah, I used to eat it so often, like every day since my childhood.

TED: 5:20

Do you get tired of it then?

SAM: 5:22

Oh, no, no, In the Berber families it's like that, especially in the small villages. No, yes, no way you can eat it like once a month, once in a month. It depends on work and it depends on time. Yeah.

TED: 5:41

Because I was surprised in Morocco, like we'll talk about this, I'm sure, but we learn how mostly people eat, or at least make couscous on Fridays?

SAM: 5:49

Yes, absolutely, it's a culture, it's like a feast.

TED: 5:54

And is that, but is that the only day you'd eat it, though? Or is it just made on Friday for the rest of the week? Well, it's lovely.

AZDEAN: 5:59

It's supposed to be Friday because Friday is a holiday and that's how we celebrate the Friday, especially after the Friday prayers, midday prayers, everybody gets together. You know friends and family and that's how they they have that couscous and enjoy it together. That's. It's all about togetherness. But you can still do it any day you want, and a lot of people do that as well. So, but if you, if you're looking for food and you're outside, whether it's the street or whether it's the restaurants, couscous is available all the time. So not just Friday, but the call center, traditional Friday for the house.

SAM: 6:35

Yeah, it's kind of family celebrations, family gathering, friends gathering and stuff like that. As I've just said, if you don't have time, for example, in on Friday, maybe Sunday, because mostly we have like holidays, like in Western, we have like a weekend, saturday and Sunday in Morocco. So if it's not possible on Friday, so we make it on Sunday, like that's God, that's family and friends throughout.

TED: 7:03

Yeah, I see, hmm. So I was wondering this is is couscous considered the national dish? Is it that?

SAM: 7:13

kind of ubiquitous. Yes, absolutely, yeah, absolutely. It's famous and you can't find any house in Morocco without couscous. Nobody can say that they don't eat couscous. We say what do you want to eat for, for example, Friday? Oh, it's couscous. So it's. It's like a generations dish, like throughout Morocco.

TED: 7:37

Yeah, Hmm, so part of it is the fact that it goes with so many things. So well, let's talk about that, because let's, there's the. There's a few of the famous dishes I think most people have probably heard of, but maybe they don't know what necessarily goes into them. And then you guys will tell us about a whole bunch of other things that I might know about, other people might have heard of, but let's learn about some of those too. But I think the famous ones I mean besides couscous, would be the tagines and the tangias, right and pastilla. I was surprised. I first I thought it was like a typo when I was first learning about all this, like tagine and uh sorry, tagine and tangia.

SAM: 8:20

Yeah, tangia yeah.

TED: 8:22

But they are two separate things, yeah.

AZDEAN: 8:23

Okay, go ahead, sam, please.

SAM: 8:27

So the, the, the tagine, is the same as couscous. It's familiar and very famous in Morocco but we can say, for example, tangia. It's special to, mostly in the beginning, it's marrakech, marrakech is tangia because it's um, it's kind of of dish that's people use to to make when they go out for like, for like a picnic, like when they go outdoor, for example, when they make it in um, in the. It's called fernachi. It's uh, yeah, fernachi is an old, like uh oven. It's cooked slowly, so it will give you more details about how, how it makes.

SAM: 9:08

But, for example, you can talk about pastilla, for example. It's the regions for like within, during the within, especially in the first regions of Morocco. But tagine you can find it everywhere, in marrakech, in Kazablanca, in Rabat, in Fes, and it's same as couscous. It's prepared in a different ways and it's maybe salt, for example. You can use it like with salt. You can use it, for example, with beef, with um, like lamb, with uh chicken, maybe with fish, for example, when we talk about the coastal regions of Morocco, like Sawera or Safi or Tangier, it's, it's, it's amazing, it's it's, it's different and it's always delicious.

AZDEAN: 9:54

Yes, Just to add to what Sam has said. You know, tangier is really specific to marrakech and, um, he said we make it in in the fernachi and we'll have some videos and we'll have some images about the making of it, because during the tour we did one, uh, tangier, uh, in one of the fernachi, which is the hot oven. So, and basically, um, you know, in marrakech the city is a little different. When I talk about marrakech, I'm going to go back to my teenage years, 20, 30 years ago. Um, when we hang out quite a bit outside, outdoors, it's, it's really really popular, especially when you, if you're in marrakech, uh, one of the most sea places is the minara, uh, marra, so, so, basically, we, we, we, we do the Tangier, we make the Tangier and then we go to minara and that's where we, you know, just have, you know camping, if you would. Um, that's where we just enjoy it and just hang out with you know, family, or just friends, the boys, or just you know your, your, basically your, your, your group of people.

AZDEAN: 10:55

Um, now the culture has changed a little bit, so now you can have, you know, literally in in a city, um, but it's, it was specific, um, made in marrakech. Only the same way when we talk about, for example, the Stila. Like Sam said, the Stila is is from fast region. They, they make the best, they're the best and it's uh, you can make it with fish, you can make it with chicken, you can make it with dry fruits, and the ingredients is really really simple. In a way, it's just basically um, it's a user, philo, I believe, and then yeah, and then we have a little bit of almonds.

AZDEAN: 11:33

It's got some sweets, yes, yeah, and then you can make it, uh, so you can make it, you know, sweets. You can make it salty, you can make it with fish and um, you know use, uh, what do you call um? I forgot the name of it. It's a type of pasta that you use different fish. You know you mix shrimp, if you can, um, red fish, salmon, um, white fish, so it's really, really good Um, and they make it in.

AZDEAN: 11:59

You know it can be like a a size of one person. That's what they do quite a bit here in the U S. That's what's popular, but in Morocco it's served for a family gathering, especially weddings, and it's one of the. Still, it's like it can feed maybe 10 people, 12 people, which is huge, um, and also, when we talk about it, it's, it's, it's a very, very diverse dish and you can make it like some say, fish, vegetables, lamb, beef, goat, and there's hundreds of different ways of making a Tajin. Even now, you know some they make it with, you know, camel meat and stuff like that.

AZDEAN: 12:35

So, and you can go from vegetarian Tajin, just mixed vegetables, to a lot of ingredients, some of them that are really, really popular and I know that you have some of the pictures sent out on the email, ted, and you can see there. With green peas, you can. There's, there's so many options that you can make the Tajin with you know, and some of the most popular ones with the chicken with you know, lemon peel, preserved lemon peel, green olives, and it's really really tasty. So we'll add some pictures for the audience and viewers just to see it. But it's just, it's. It's really, really, really incredible. Thank you, thank you. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yes that's it.

SAM: 13:21

Yeah, it's prepared in different ways. It's delicious and amazing. Yeah, just I want to add something to what, as Dean just said, when you go, for example, when you hear, when you come in Morocco, and you heard like berber, if you want to berber Tajin, it means like vegetarian Tajin mostly. Yes, berber Tajin, yeah like me, for example. I'm vegetarian, so I'm so lucky to find like berber.

SAM: 13:44

Tajin somewhere okay, yeah, just something else that I want to add to what, as Dean said, when in Morocco, as I said, when you are out with with with friends, you're out at Tanjiya with it's called like in Zaha, right in Morocco, in Zaha, let's go like to have fun and when you finish, like playing cards or just walking around the gardens and stuff, when you're starving or hungry, you come just around the Tanjiya it's. It's a huge and it's very delicious and amazing.

TED: 14:15

Yeah, yeah, yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, right, so it's the Tanjiya. Well, and Tajin too. I was wondering this like does it refer equally to the meal, the dish and also the pot, that is?

SAM: 14:30

made of the pot that's made of that's a really important problem?

AZDEAN: 14:33

that's a really good question. This is good pictures we're here, so I can add a little bit to what Sam said. So when you say the Tajin, it's really the pot you know to a lot of people, but when you say the Tajin in Morocco, it's the pot that it's cooked in. So now, here's the difference. Now there's some Tajins just for decorations, which means you can cook the meal elsewhere a pressure cooker, which is really popular in Morocco. Then you serve it in that Tajin, because that Tajin is not made for cooking.

TED: 15:05

And this is one like that's probably this one at the top left here.

SAM: 15:10

Yes, right, thank you very much. Yes, that's one.

AZDEAN: 15:12

No, the second one is you have a Tajin that is very traditional Tajin, like the one that you see. It looks kind of old and you can see it right here in the middle of the, to the right hand side. Next to that, the one with the, the meat balls and eggs next to it, to the right hand side. That's a traditional yeah, that one. That one is for cooking.

AZDEAN: 15:32

And the way to know the difference and we've been through this when you lift the Tajin and you have that top part of it in your hand, you look inside and if it has a small hole or an opening, that means that's for cooking. That's where the Tajin can breathe. If it does not, that means that Tajin is not for cooking, it's just for decoration and it's just for you know, you can serve the food in it, but you cannot cook because it's gonna put it in the oven, it's gonna break. So that's what the difference is basically between Tajin that it's for cooking and Tajin that it's just you. You just serve the meal inside or you put the meal in. So that's basically the difference.

AZDEAN: 16:14

Yes, yeah, um and then here's the 10 Gm.

AZDEAN: 16:22

So it, so they put the whole pot right in the other doesn't the Tangia nowadays you that the traditional way is the one that you have your mouse on, but it's a little different when you take it to the traditional Moroccan way. But you can make it this way. This is the second way that you can make it, and the third way that you can put it is you can put it on a pressure cooker and you can serve it, as you can see in these, in these Tajins. So serve it in a Tajin, or you can serve it in a regular plate, but it's better actually when you serve it in a Tajin. It just looks much better and is that what's happening here?

TED: 16:53

are these ones that are covered?

SAM: 16:54

yeah and yeah, and the difference between them is that the Tangia must be cooked in a very slow, very slow. Fire means, unlike Tajin, for example, you can prepare it on the gas, for example, but then you have to take it to the oven, traditional oven outside um, in the old Medina, as it is like, as I said before, from Farnachi, and it takes between four to six hours. Yeah, so you, yeah, to prepare the Tangia.

AZDEAN: 17:22

Yeah basically, you place it a little bit far away from the fire, so you just yeah yeah, very slow. Yes, exactly yes, and then during the process, you pick it up and you shake it and you put it back into what you call them I forgot the name of them. Yeah, those things that you should. Yeah, on the first picture on the left hand side, the one on top, yeah, that's what this is.

TED: 17:47

Yeah, right, right in the round goal, yeah it's.

AZDEAN: 17:51

I forgot the name of it. Yeah, the stuff that you barbecue with. I forgot the name. The wood thing yeah, okay, like yes, charcoal or something yes, it's a similar thing that we use in Morocco, but it's different. It's wood charcoal, but you put it. You put it right a little bit far away from it, so it just slowly cooks yeah, and then here's some pastia yes, so you kind of get a sense, I guess, of the different size like this one here.

AZDEAN: 18:22

That's actually not big. So the traditional Moroccan one it's. It's probably four times that size or five times that size. Yes, so, and also just as an indicator uh, ted, when you look at the pastia, you look at the decoration. That's what makes you, that's how you can tell what's inside the pastia versus is it fish, is it chicken? Is it? Um, you know seafood, seafood, is it? You know fish? And so, and for, for example, that one that you're looking at, that's a seafood and it's. You can see the, the lime slices, then the shrimp on top, and that's basically indicated that bastila is, is a shrimp or a seafood bastila. Then the one that you see the decoration, just like the regular brown sugar with, um, what do you call it? Cinnamon yes that's.

AZDEAN: 19:10

That's normally. It's a little bit sweet. It's got some um, yeah, that one. That's perfect.

TED: 19:14

Yeah, it's chicken most of the time yeah, yeah yeah, okay, I think that's one we tried in fact. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's right you try it in fest.

SAM: 19:23

Yes, that's right, yeah, and, and pastia, by the way. It used to serve during the weddings and occasions before um in the past, and now it becomes like, yeah, special, yeah, and now it becomes like a popular dish that served anywhere in the restaurant, especially, as they say, in fest, and you can find it everywhere now in order on the infest right now in Morocco as well.

TED: 19:46

Uh, yes, yeah and it's kind of of consistent quality, whether it's, I mean, a fesa would be, but you could order in tangier, you could order it in in marrakech and it would be.

AZDEAN: 19:59

I just think that the quality is going to be good yeah.

SAM: 20:04

There are two places in Marrakesh I know exactly in Marrakesh and Kazablanca, where they edit in the past. They are amazing. It's the same as one day in Fez. But, by the way, you have to order it ahead of time. If you want a big one, especially yes, in a restaurant, maybe for one person you can find small ones, but for family or for friends or for celebrating an event, you have to order it ahead of time. You can order it in the morning to get it in the afternoon, for example, or in the evening.

SAM: 20:33

Yeah, yeah, because it takes time, takes a lot of work.

TED: 21:30

I guess Interesting. Well, let's chat about that. I'll turn this off here for a second Because, like, so you go to a restaurant. How easy is it to order any one of these dishes? Like, is it just there on the menu or do you have to know how to order or what to order? It's pretty much available.

AZDEAN: 21:46

I mean the small sizes that the restaurant are there part of the menu, just like you would get an appetizer or a soup or a salad there. But what Sam was talking about, especially when you have an event, let's say you and your family, your friends, maybe six, ten people then you need to order it from a special place. There's places that they can get it for you, but they need time to prepare it, depending on how big the size is and also how the season if it's wedding season you need to get a little bit more time. So for me I would say an average of one to two weeks is good, just to be on the sub side, but we're talking one that I can feed easily 10 to 12 people, but it's something that is for two or four people. It's not a big deal. They probably can be done the same day or couple of days.

TED: 22:35

So is it? I'm trying to remember a bit back to when we would be at restaurants and look at the menu. I mean, for starters, is it generally? In English Like is it easy to understand what you're ordering?

AZDEAN: 22:46

Most of the menus nowadays are in English. You'll see one part in English and the other part in Arabic or Italian Spanish. So this, yeah, the menu, is not an issue. Some they have different. You know different language menus and they'll ask you which one you want, what language, and they'll bring it to you.

SAM: 23:05

And restaurants, especially in the big cities like Marrakech, fesat, touristic cities, I said, and in Doriad's accommodation, where you are studying in Raqqaf, you will find the menu in both languages, in my Arabic, french and English. Yeah, it becomes very famous more and more.

TED: 23:23

So then, is it easy, easy-ish to know what the ingredients are, especially if you're concerned about certain ingredients?

AZDEAN: 23:29

Yes, normally they have the ingredients listed, but it's always good to ask, just to be on the sub side. Yes, let me give you an example. If you have never had Bastilla before and it's your first time, just take it easy. Go easy on the Bastilla, because it's really, really rich in terms of, you know, the sweets we didn't finish it, yes, and it's going to fill you up. I mean, let's give you an example. If you're invited to a wedding and because they're going to give you a lot of dishes many dishes four or five depends so when it's time for them to serve Bastilla for you, just take three bites, no more than three bites.

SAM: 24:07

Yes, don't eat too much, because you will be full.

AZDEAN: 24:10

Yes, you won't be able to eat too much. So, keep in mind, if you're invited to a Moroccan wedding, there's layers and layers of food that they serve. You know they serve the chicken, then they go with beef and prunes, then they go with couscous, then they go with Bastilla, then they go with dessert, like you know, orange, bananas, you know whatever that is for the season, then after that they do Moroccan tea. So it just really depends. But you don't want to overeat. So this is number one. Number two if it's your first time to Morocco, take it easy on the food. The food is going to be really good, really delicious, but take it easy, slow down, because it can get to you.

SAM: 24:55

Just to add to the Bastilla if you are like a seafood allergic, like me, for example, you have to be careful when you order the Bastilla, make sure that it's not included in the seafood. Yes, of course, but this is very important.

AZDEAN: 25:07

But also the thing to do. Just keep it in mind sometimes, when you ask somebody the waiter, the waitress maybe they may not know, but you definitely want to either speak to the manager or maybe somebody needs to go and ask the chef for the cook just to serve the size, because I can't relate to this because I eat everything. So, but, Sam, because I remember when we went to Morocco and they served us I think it was a soup in a hotel. It was an incredible soup. I loved it, but it had seafood, and here's the logic to seafood. And then we have one of the photographers Ftah is a logic to seafood as well. So I was in Johnette and having fun and they look at him. They look red. He definitely want to ask Careful, yeah, Couldn't breathe, yeah, yeah, and tell us a bit about vegetarian options then.

TED: 26:08

How common is it? How easy?

AZDEAN: 26:09

is it to get vegetarian food? This one is definitely for Sam because he's vegetarian and he suffers a lot. I'm going to do it, yeah.

SAM: 26:17

Okay. Okay, if you are in a big restaurants, for sure they have vegetarian options, but in a small restaurants I don't think so. If you want to eat in your accommodation or you have to order it ahead of time and tell them that you are vegetarian because, as they said, I'm suffering to find my dish every time during 50 days of traveling in Morocco.

AZDEAN: 26:44

I feel bad for you because we're eating and he still doesn't get his dish. Somebody did bring the dish, but it has chicken.

TED: 26:52

Yeah, oh yeah, that's cool.

AZDEAN: 26:54

Yeah, you know, but you know just, yeah, well, that's a good plan. I mean, this is a really serious matter and it's always good to communicate and for us, we really ask everybody who's traveling with us if they have any. You know the restrictions or allergies and we have to comply. We have to make sure that you know if they are allergic to whatever type of food, that food is not served when they are at the Riyadh or the hotel or the restaurants. So and we do a really good job, you know, taking care of them that way.

SAM: 27:26

So I mean, I think it's the same thing, yeah. Yeah, last time we received like a guest, if you remember, the family of sex.

AZDEAN: 27:35

Yeah, yeah.

SAM: 27:36

One of them are gluten free yeah. One of them are from Morocco to find gluten free and the tour was amazing. We took care of them.

TED: 27:44

Yeah.

SAM: 27:44

Yeah, and every place where they go, we made sure that they are. They took care of them. They are gluten free and they took care of them.

AZDEAN: 27:54

Yeah, it's. You really have to be very careful and for us we do the same thing. We make sure that we communicate to you know, to these establishments, or you know, accommodation, whatever you're staying, whatever your lunch is going to be, whatever your dinner is going to be, and also, if you have you know, your driver needs to know those restrictions. So when you, when you say, hey, I want to go have lunch, but I can't have this type of food, so he knows exactly what to what, to take you and and we'll help you and take care of you that way, yeah, yeah.

TED: 28:24

Yeah, and I think in like. I mean, when you're in the cities, there's more options. The challenging time, as you say, might be on some of those long drives when you're more in the country. I remember when we were going it would have been the first full day, I think from Casablanca all the way up to. Chef Shaouen and we stopped for lunch at kind of a roadside barbecue type restaurant.

TED: 28:46

It was a sit down restaurant but it was all meat, it was lamb and it was very good, but I don't know if they had anything else. It was just kind of fresh, quick barbecue lamb. That's cool. But if you can't eat it, then you know you got to have other options or just be prepared. But it's not necessarily going to be like every single day. That's like that. Maybe there's just exceptions for those long drive. I know that place.

AZDEAN: 29:06

This is a really good point, ted, because a lot of audience, a lot of listeners and viewers when they hear about the trip. So they go into Morocco. Yes, there are places like this. They just like pit stops, that's all they have. You go, you'll have a Tajine, you'll have a lot of food Ten bucks will feed the whole family Not a big deal. But they don't have a lot of options because those to us Moroccans, they're literally like truck stops. You go in, you get a sandwich, you get a quick bite and you go. And those guys, you know, they're meat lovers.

AZDEAN: 29:38

So for the tourists, it's a little bit challenging for them when they go, because really there's not a lot of options. And some of them you go and say, hey, can I get? I just want to get a coffee to go. They say they don't have it. Or tea to go tea, they'll be available. But you know, those are the things that as a local we know and we're aware. But as tourists they may not know about those places. But you know, from place to place you really need to know where to stop and get exactly what you need to get. So yeah.

SAM: 30:08

To come back to another point here is, as I still mentioned before, when you come to Morocco, be careful. The food is like. I can say it's 90% organic. Yeah, and when you eat it will be different. For example, you come in front United States or Canada, for example, morocco, they change your food. You have just to be careful from the Especially first day and second day. You don't have to eat too much, especially when you eat spicy tagine. Yes, you have, you have to be careful. Yeah, just a little bit, if you have like few days, don't eat too much during the first and the second day.

AZDEAN: 30:43

Yes, and you know, just to add to what you're saying, I remember as kids, you know, we live in Marrakech and as soon as school is finished we go to the mountains. So when we go to the mountains and I know the reason why Sam said, you know you have vegetarian Tajin because of you know meat is expensive and they're not gonna, you know, sacrifice or have a goat where they can sell it and stuff like that. So everything really costly versus Tajin literally doesn't cost the minute in everything, it's just right there at the house. So the the the other thing I remember the first time that I had goat meat when I was a kid, it did not really go well with my stomach and and I suffered, I was sick for three days, but the reason is because the meat is very fresh. You know, even Marrakech, we, we eat beef, we eat lamb, it's, it's still fresh.

AZDEAN: 31:29

But now you know you're going up to the mountains and it's, it's, it's very different. You know the yeses, it's very strong itself. Yeah, we call it new. So and then the other thing is they don't have Refugee raiders, so the way that they handle that type of you know, when they have a whole goat or a whole. You know sheep, basically they just, you know they, when they divide it and eat it. To prepare it, yes, actually they leave it a whole, they hang it and they, basically they put olive oil in it and and and salt. That way doesn't get contaminated and doesn't get spoiled. So it stays fresh for about three or four days, but then the whole family becomes carnivore for those days. Yeah, back then.

AZDEAN: 32:20

I'm talking Now you know refrigerators there's, you know technology and stuff like that.

TED: 32:27

I'm trying to remember. Is rice very common in Morocco? Yes, it is.

AZDEAN: 32:31

That's a very good question. Rice is very common but it's a little it's used in Morocco a little different, at least that I can speak here in the US. And when you talk about the US and you talk about rice, us it's, it's it's extremely diverse. There's all type of cuisines. I mean, especially here in Houston, we're really very fortunate so. But if you look at the rice, the way, for example, you know, the Iranians use rice versus the Indians of Pakistan is versus the Asian People use the rice. We use it differently.

AZDEAN: 33:00

In Morocco for me, growing up, we use rice for dinner most of the time and Basically it's just boiled water at salt and black pepper. Then you add, you know, the rice for a few minutes. Then, before it boils all the way down, you add a little bit of milk to it. We don't add milk and that's normally. That's one of our. That's how we have dinner sometimes. Then you can have it.

AZDEAN: 33:25

You know, in a salad, everybody makes it almost the same. In what you go in a salad it's, you know, a small bowl of salad and flipped over and it's steamed a little bit, but not too much, not like the US. So salad, I mean the rice. This is one of the major ways that we really consume rice. But I know sometimes you have certain, you know guests from certain part of the world that they have requests. They have to have rice, you know, for lunch, for dinner, whether they are two people or group of people, so we have to accommodate them and that can be challenged. So when, if that happens, then everything needs to really to be needs to be pre-arranged With the riyadhs, with the hotels, with the restaurants, anywhere they go, and it can be done, it can be taken care of. So we also want to hear what Sam has to say.

SAM: 34:12

This is my point, yeah, yeah, thank you very much for the question this is Just talking to, for example, about rice. It's it's totally different than the Middle East countries, north African countries. They don't use it for a daily basic in their, in their kitchen, in their cuisine, unlike, for example, the Middle East. They use it every day. We use it, like in Kebsa, in Every dish they have like, and because they they are in next Asian countries, so they are affected by the culture of the Asian countries. In Morocco, as I didn't say, you can order it if you, if you like it, for example, in your salad they can bring you like we. There is a famous salad in Morocco which which called niswas salad. Niswas, if you want to add the rice, you have to tell them to add it, yeah, else they just will serve you salads without rice. So, yeah, we don't use it. We use it in our houses, as I said, during the evenings, for for a dinner, with milk or with Tomato sauce, for example. Yeah, that's it mm-hmm.

TED: 35:16

Me I Was surprised just how I'd heard the stories, but just how common, how ubiquitous bread was like. It's everywhere, I mean, and it just keeps coming and coming and it. I'll find a picture because it's the round bread. Is there a name for that bread? Like it? Yeah, I just a mix amazing.

AZDEAN: 35:36

Yes, yeah, oh.

TED: 35:44

I see, okay, let me share this here.

SAM: 35:54

Okay, so this is a picture, so it's all Okay.

TED: 35:59

Are the different? Well, it's a point because, from what I remember, they all seem to be the same recipe. But are there much variation? Can you be you're in.

SAM: 36:06

Morocco. You have to eat the homes every day. In the morning, in Midday, in the evening, they serve your homes every time. It's not like.

TED: 36:18

It fed our kids for a week can you mute some please?

AZDEAN: 36:24

No, I'm just joking. I'm actually the different types of hoops, if you would. So when you look at this picture, for example, you can see the one that you pointed at. You know, it's the third one towards the middle, the one below it. Yeah, that's called the barrier, which is a very special Special made for the holidays, like I, it's a which is after Ramadan celebration, also, in all you know, religious celebration, local celebration, national celebration, I mean, and it's really really good and it's made. You know just so many. Now you mix it with water, you add some stuff to it and basically it looks like it's a, it's a crepe, but it's not a crepe. Some call it, you know 1000 whole bread, some call it, you know, moroccan pancakes. So really depends. So this many, many different types of bread, and and Sam was laughing because he doesn't eat a lot of bread and they keep bringing bread to him at the restaurant, so it's it's. It was funny.

SAM: 37:26

Yes, yeah, yeah, just just something to what I've seen just say in Morocco. If, for example, ted, you were in Morocco, so every time you come in the morning they serve you like Bread. It's not like small pieces, big, big, big, like a bike breeze. For example, in the during the last time, same thing. During the dinner, same thing. So when Morocco we, we use it. So, for example, when you are in Morocco and they provided a lot of bread to you, it means that's you are most welcome and that we are very happy to welcome you here.

AZDEAN: 38:05

Yeah.

TED: 39:04

Well, it is great. When this comes out fresh, it's alright and you know you know it's great.

AZDEAN: 39:10

So many memories are memorable. As kids, you know the best way that we used to consume hooves or bread at that time. As soon as he gets out of the oven, we do some olive oil or butter and he melts, and you, you know especially the one that it's made out of barley it's. It's really really, really tasty.

SAM: 39:26

So it's that. It's the second photo from right At the top, the second one right down.

AZDEAN: 39:32

Yeah, like here to the bottom, to the right to the bottom, that one, yes, this is what I still talking about.

SAM: 39:38

Yes, that one.

AZDEAN: 39:40

Yeah, so then then then the one that you have, small, that the one is called either a rife or this small square ones. It looks like harsha, which is another type of bread. So there's many, many in terms of bread, there's so many different types, and also in the burger culture they have their own bread and it's called. The most famous one is called tenured and as case, we love it, it's it's, it's cooked, you know, any stone oven on top of small rocks, and it's really, really delicious. And back then it used to be served for special holidays, like weddings, like you know circumcisions, you know engagements and stuff like that. Now it's really, really popular and you can have it literally anywhere, you know, when you go to the mountains.

TED: 40:30

So Okay, is that? This one here is kind of looks like a flatbread. Let's call them a cinnamon, and it's. Yes okay, yeah, I think it was Pablo and I feel the guests talking about that.

AZDEAN: 40:51

Yeah, exactly, they had it in the desert. Yeah, yes, Okay. Interesting. Yeah, I am getting a great idea. It's still breakfast time for me.

TED: 41:11

Okay.

SAM: 41:12

Welcome, it's dinner time in long time.

TED: 41:23

Okay, can you tell us a bit about a couple of these things?

AZDEAN: 41:27

Oh, my gosh here.

AZDEAN: 41:28

It's obviously great. This is, this is Khadija, this is. She made a menu for Ramadan and this is the Harira, which is a very special, special soup for us and it serves especially in Ramadan and again, when we talk about the tradition on the culture, it's for Ramadan, 100%. However, you can still have it in a daily basics, anywhere you go throughout Morocco, more on the north side versus the south side of Morocco, so it's always available. So, and it's really really good and you can see the ingredients it's got celery, it's got, you know, chickpeas, it's got lentil, you know so many, so many really really healthy ingredients cilantro, parsley, you know tomato base, tomato sauce. So this, it's incredible. So this is one of the. If you, if you say that you know, cuzco is the national dish, this is the dish really that is famous in Ramadan. So, and again, it's made differently from household to household, city to city, village to village, family to family, but it's just incredible.

SAM: 42:30

And you can have it as like An entrance or starter. Yes, if you before, for example, before you order your main dish. Yes, you can. You can only have Harira. Yeah, it's amazing.

AZDEAN: 42:40

So for us, I mean, even if not had, just still makes it, you know, outside Ramadan and I really really enjoyed outside of Ramadan, because Ramadan it's, it's very filling, it really fills you up and sometimes this is what we have for dinner and it's very tasty, very flavorful, and you can you can add some, you know, meat cubes to it, you know, slice meat to add a little bit of flavor. Some people they add just bone, you know, and bone marrow for the flavor as well, and at the end, when it's so, they take them out. So it's, it's a very diverse Dish and, like Sam said, it can be an appetizer, it can be the main course.

TED: 43:14

So, yeah, Hmm, okay, yeah, I remember trying it. What's another thing that jumps out here?

SAM: 43:26

Oh, I think it's albergin, yeah.

TED: 43:31

So it's made of mainly eggplant, some spices.

AZDEAN: 43:36

You can help them. I'm just watching. This looks really good.

SAM: 43:40

Yeah, the albergin called. Yeah, the albergin, you know name.

TED: 43:45

Yeah, albergin, yeah.

SAM: 43:46

This one is very famous and prepared in a different way. There are some people they just put it on the fire and then they mix it. There are several of them. They just put it first on the oil, yes, then they prepare it, like the one on the third photo, I think the third photo on your right, yeah, like here that one To your left, to your left please those rounds. Yeah, that's different, that's different.

AZDEAN: 44:16

There's a round. I like these rounds. You cook them in oil, you fried them, basically, and it's one of my favorite. But also this dish, it can be served hot and it can be served cold. A lot of people they like it hot, but for me I really like it cold. But if you can scroll up you can see the ingredients. All that stuff goes into it. So there's the spices, the first top picture on the left, then the one underneath it. That's how it's mixed together and then it's prepared. You can see that pressure cooker and then the next two pictures next to it on the right hand side. That's the process. You stir it, you keep stirring it. That way it doesn't get stuck to the pressure cooker. So at the end of the result, this is what you have and you can serve it as a side dish. And you can see, here you have the main tagine. I can't really see it, but I think it's maybe tagine with green peas and it's really really good.

SAM: 45:13

And you find it in some menus under the name of Zaluk ZAA ILO YUKA. This is the name Zaluk. In some restaurant, they put it under the menu under this name.

AZDEAN: 45:28

So how do you name them?

TED: 45:30

Would you see other names too? Then Zaluk, that's the only name for it. It's called Zaluk yes, yeah, I remember. I'm sure we tried that. I feel like it might have been a chef's show when you go to fast.

AZDEAN: 45:48

They spoil you with Zaluk and all type of small dishes. Fast. They just go above and beyond. It's just. The experience is unbelievable.

SAM: 46:00

I remember yeah, in the palace I'm vegetarian. I have to wait until the end when they brought vegetarian couscous to eat, and they already ate chicken, they already ate meat with the lemon.

AZDEAN: 46:29

And then we had the bastilla.

SAM: 46:31

Bastilla, yeah.

AZDEAN: 46:33

This place and we're very lucky and we send our guests there for lunch. It's better for lunch than dinner, because you don't want to eat that type of food for dinner, because you're not going to go to sleep. So the experience is beyond incredible. The service is amazing. The history for that palace it is a palace actually. I don't want to give too much information, but we're coming up with video podcasts everywhere that we have stopped and this is one of the main stops. So fast I love fast. I'm always fascinated by fast. I can go to fast for three months and not see the same thing twice. It's just beyond incredible. I love Marrakesh, but fast is just beyond amazing. So the audience and the viewers, they'll get a chance to see exactly what we talk about and it's just an amazing, amazing experience. And, by the way, I just want to give the name of the palace it's called Palace Liminet-Bahie, just in case.

SAM: 47:36

Pali Liminet-Bahie. In French Pali Liminet-Bahie. Yeah, palace.

TED: 47:41

We'll have to put that in the notes here to figure out how to spell it.

SAM: 47:45

P-L-A-I-S-Mini-P-M-N-B-H-I-H-I-N-B. Yeah, we spent like four or five days in fast Four days and we couldn't do it. We couldn't do all of it fast. That's right. Yes.

TED: 48:10

Is this it here, Pali?

AZDEAN: 48:14

Yes, that's the one, yes.

SAM: 48:15

Oh, yes, yes, that's it.

TED: 48:19

Beautiful view, yeah.

AZDEAN: 48:22

Okay, cool. And also keep in mind if you're going to book your lunch here, book it early and book it in advance, because this place is extremely rich in terms of history and a lot of people are coming in. You'll be having your lunch and flocks of people will come in and visit in the place, and you know what I'm saying.

SAM: 48:43

Yeah, so Traditional music, yes, yeah.

TED: 48:47

Right.

AZDEAN: 48:48

Yeah, so fast they do it the way nobody else does, the way they do it fast. I mean, it's just, this is only appetizers state, by the way.

SAM: 48:55

Only appetizers and others. Yeah, that's fine. I remember this.

TED: 48:59

I'm glad I found this little video, because when you go to a restaurant a bigger restaurant maybe, but we'd sit down around a big round table- and they bring out these little dishes, appetizers, little samples. So the carrots are your example and the other things and you just take a little spoonfuls right and it fills you up. I mean, if you have another dish coming then which you probably would have a tajine or something right afterwards. This is just the appetizer, but that's often how they serve.

AZDEAN: 49:24

It is these little appetizer type dishes that you can take little pieces of yeah because I remember I went by myself and they give me I counted them, I think 11 of those small dishes and I was like what? So I ate as much as I could and I was like I was full. But then they brought the chicken tajine and I'm like, oh my gosh, this is just. The food in Farsi is just. It's another experience on its own. You have to try it. You have to try it.

TED: 49:53

Yeah, okay, well, for starters. I'm sure we could go on for a long time talking about food. We may do. We should do another session before too long, maybe about some other questions. One thing I really do want to cover, though, is when you go to a restaurant an average restaurant how much would a lot of these dishes cost? So if you order tagine, of course depends on the ingredients and stuff, the size, but I mean, can you get a sense at least of what typical prices when you order tagine?

AZDEAN: 50:22

You can get a sense of the price just by being outside the building before you go in. So what I'm saying is you, probably you can get a tagine and, sam, you can get a tagine from 5 bucks USD to a couple of hundred dollars, depending on the hotel you're going to if it's a high end, 5 star, 6 star hotel. So it just it really really depends on also the experience. So, for example, the pit stops that you have said, sam, I mean Ted, you can have a tagine. Like I said, tagine for the whole family will cost less than 10 bucks and you eat a lot of, I mean you'll feel this. So, the same tagine, if you want to have it somewhere else, it probably costs about 150. So it just it really really varies. I mean the quality varies as well, but on average, tagine should cost around 10 bucks.

SAM: 51:13

And, yeah, in a good restaurant, in a good restaurant, the average including, for example, the farm menu, for example, the main dish and, for example, the dessert and the appetizer or starters or something in a good restaurant, it costs about between 20 to 25 dollars per person. We are talking about an amazing restaurant. But when we talk about the high end, for example, high end, the Moroccan food the Moroccan food is not expensive. For example, when you order Mediterranean food, french or Italian food, it's become more expensive than you're ordering Moroccan food. If you want, for example, one main dish, for example like, or you say tagine, as I said, between five to 15 bucks, that's it, yeah, and you can eat very, very good, yeah, yeah.

TED: 52:01

And that would feed a few people Probably.

SAM: 52:03

Yeah Two, yeah, yeah Two okay For people for tagine yeah, for two people is good, yeah, and you can pay like 10 dollars. Yeah.

AZDEAN: 52:10

It's good.

SAM: 52:13

I'm hungry.

TED: 52:18

I'm trying to remember now. Does water usually come with the meal? Do you have to order a bottle of water separately?

AZDEAN: 52:23

Normally tab water will come, but not recommended For restaurants. You ask for water, they'll bring you the bottle of water, but they charge you extra. Now, this is for restaurants and most of them. So every time you ask for a bottle of water, they add there's no free refill, basically. And also, let's say, when you go to a coffee shop most coffee shops when you order whether it's espresso, whether it's regular coffee, cappuccino, whatever you get, you know tea it comes with a small bottle of water. In most places, if they don't give you the bottle of water, they just bring you a glass of water. Yeah, tab water basically.

SAM: 53:02

So yeah, yeah, in some restaurants, for example, when you order like a Fulminio for example, they give you like a bottle of water.

TED: 53:12

Yeah, you want to second, you have to pay for it extra. Right, okay, and then what about drinks? Have some restaurants for alcohol, is it? I don't know? Is it becoming more common if you want to have beer or wine? How is it different?

AZDEAN: 53:28

It just depends on the restaurant. If you go in something that it's local, that it's very traditional speaking, but Marrakech, for example, gemma's night, you're not going to find it. But then you go a little bit upscale, yeah, you'll have, you know, a variety of choices to choose from.

SAM: 53:44

Yeah, so, especially some, many, many restaurants. They have like authorization to sell alcohol right now and in other restaurants, as I've been saying inside, for example on the square Gemma's square, it is only like soda yeah.

AZDEAN: 53:59

But the other thing is you have to keep in mind this is what you know. It's part of the culture A lot of people they're under the pre-consumption that there's no alcohol in Morocco. Morocco, there's quite a bit of alcohol. There's wine, there's a lot of alcohol. They're really good and very good quality. But it's catered to the tourists. It's not meant for the locals or the local consumption, but it's mainly for tourists. So nowadays you can't really tell who is who. So, but it's you know, if you go to a bar, you'll see more locals than tourists most of the time. So but this is how it is.

SAM: 54:38

The law is safe for tourists.

AZDEAN: 54:41

I'm a tourist today.

TED: 54:44

Sure, well, that's a good point though. So, like is there any cultural kind of pushback, or do you get kind of frowned upon if you?

AZDEAN: 54:53

order alcohol. No, it's well accepted. And just to add something else, and Sam can have, you know, choose to add some stuff, because he knows a little bit more than I do. Basically. So let's say, for example, you go into the southern part of Morocco, in some areas you'll have wine, for example when you go to the campemars or so forth. Now, sometimes you know the locals or you know the authorities might tighten the system, but you can always have your own and take it with you. Nobody's gonna say why or you cannot have it. You can have your own bottle of wine and take it with you, or your case of wine, you know and nobody will tell you anything. So but when it comes to alcohol it's literally almost everywhere, especially the north side of Morocco versus the south side, but it's pretty much everywhere.

SAM: 55:44

Yeah, that's right. Especially in nowadays, there is like many authorizations given to the restaurant, even to the riyadhs, so that they can serve alcohol. As I said, when you are going, for example, to the Sahara, to the desert, to Merzouga, you can buy it on a shop. You can stop, like in Wazazat or in Todra, for example, to buy it. There is shops that is selling alcohol, like three or four shops in each city where you can buy it and take it with you, so no one will tell you why or where you take it or some other stuff you know.

SAM: 56:17

Especially for tourists, yeah.

AZDEAN: 56:20

Basically, there are specific places where you can buy alcohol In Morocco. They are called pissery. So and you can see them. They are just in a lot of neighborhoods, but they are specific, they have authorization to sell alcohol. It's called pissery. So if you don't know where to get it, just ask the riyadh or the hotel, whatever you're staying, or even your driver, and say hey, you know, can you take me to a pissery or can you direct me to a pissery? And then they'll tell you. They give you the information.

SAM: 56:55

So, yeah, the name in Moroccan direct language is called shrab. Shrab is alcohol. It's referred to alcohol. Yeah, yeah, If you are, for example, in Morocco alone, or just traveling alone to Morocco, you just ask for shrab and they will show you the place where you can buy it.

TED: 57:20

Okay. Can you think of the price then for your average decent bottle of wine at the pissery?

AZDEAN: 57:26

You know the alcohol in Morocco is a little bit pricey. In the US. That includes liquor, beer and wine as well. So I don't really remember to be honest, but it's probably, I would say, an average of 25 to 35 more what it costs in the US, in Morocco. So Morocco is about 25 to 35% more. Yeah, just to give an idea, and that could be 100% incorrect.

SAM: 57:58

So yeah, for example, beer, it depends if it's local. If it's local, you can buy it one bottle, for example, 33 centiliters, you can buy it for 1.5 dollars, which is 15, equivalent to 15 dirhams. And if you want imported, like beers from Spanish or French or Italian or Germany, especially the Heineken, for example, you can buy it for 2 dollars. Yeah, and it still, as I didn't say it's it's. It's not cheap. If you compare to Moroccan prices. It's expensive.

SAM: 58:33

Yeah a little bit. Yeah, but the wine, the wine is expensive. It depends on especially the good quality is expensive. We can talk about 30, 40 dollars for a bottle.

TED: 58:44

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah something. I I don't know if we even had one drink there. We didn't really go to Morocco to.

AZDEAN: 58:53

That's yeah, that's what I think about. Yes, yeah.

TED: 58:57

Yeah, so the last question I have here is what are the typical hours for lunch and dinner? Do people eat late? Is it like in Europe, often, where you know, dinner doesn't even start to like nine or ten o'clock. What's it like the same system.

AZDEAN: 59:12

But again, it really depends on the family. Now the culture has changed in the last 30 years, because then a lot of people did not eat out. Now there's a lot of availability outside. They used to eat more most of the time in their houses. Now it's different. So there's, the night life has changed. Some places they open 24 hours. A lot of places they close at 10 summer 11 pm.

SAM: 59:40

Yeah, but, sam, if you can elaborate Please, because I have accurate If you are a tourist, there is like lunch time is lunch time, between noon and two for example, dinners Between six and nine, for example. But for locals, for example, they have like late dinner. We are nine to ten pm and they start eating dinner, lunch, for example. If they are like an early breakfast, so they had lunch at one, one pm and depends. If they have like a late, late breakfast, then they have like lunch at three or four pm. It depends on the families and the policy. They have kids, for example. If they don't have kids, it depends. But in the restaurants they started they started lunch from 11, so you can have, you can have you know, started from 11 to three and then the dinner that says from five, yeah, then to 10 pm.

AZDEAN: 1:00:36

Okay, the other thing that I wanted to add, if possible, please. When you talk about the traditional, you know, in Morocco we say breakfast, that's been breakfast. Then there's a, there's a quick bite between the actual breakfast at lunch, and we call it the second breakfast, and then, when you have lunch, between lunch and dinner, there's what we call casco. You know a snap or a bite, yeah, so you know. So they eat the road today.

SAM: 1:01:00

Five, five times a day.

TED: 1:01:09

It's good to know you can always get food, I guess, and that you know it's not like everything shuts down at a certain time, some restaurants Maybe, but yeah, if you want to be out late and have a late dinner, you can't but in the big cities we are talking about.

SAM: 1:01:21

If we are in the village is now.

AZDEAN: 1:01:23

The village is totally different.

SAM: 1:01:24

You have to have, like, an early dinner and they have breakfast very early as well, lounge as well. It's totally different than the big cities like Marrakech or Fesar, yeah cool.

AZDEAN: 1:01:41

Well, anything else comes to mind for you guys you know each city, keep in mind each city is known for its own Really popular dish. Do your homework if you're traveling or in home. Know what fast is known for it's over. You know chef shower and so forth Marrakech, mersuga. You know, agadir, suwara, kazablanca, arbat. If you go in south, south, south of the Dakhala, if you really left, you know there's. You know, especially when you're talking, the coastline At the Atlantic Ocean it's very different than you had. Mediterranean, it's very different as well. So, and just do your homework and prepare everything ahead of time. If you have some, you know, for the restrictions, let them know ahead of time. If you traveling with us, let us know we'll take care of it for you will arrange everything for you.

AZDEAN: 1:02:25

Also, the other thing that I wanted to mention outside this episode or this live Q&A, is we're gonna do one that it's about scams and also, I want to emphasize now we're doing small group tours. They're between eight to twelve people and they're gonna start in April 2024. We have one per month, one for the north side of Morocco, one for the south side of Morocco, and they're both eight days If keep that in mind because you're saving quite a bit of money on the the small group tours Versus the private tours. And we're having them small because we want to keep that authentic experience Live as well, so you can feel it, and instead of going to the hotels and stuff, we want to book it in a real. So that's, that's really, really important because we want you to have that experience. So these are the ones that we're talking about. This is the outside, is a day imperial cities tour. It's an incredible value, it's amazing, amazing value. So and it's it's it's gonna be a lot of fun really, so yeah.

TED: 1:03:32

Okay, yes, cool, I'm glad you guys are doing that. It gives people.

AZDEAN: 1:03:37

Once you know, once a month you can have either the north side of the south side. So that's what we're gonna be doing for 2024. If we have more Request, then we can add more tours.

SAM: 1:03:48

Permas yes, and yeah, it's still has like upgrade. Yes, so if you have like, if you come before, like three days before, you can do such activity, especially if you are in Marrakechland, the demarcation in Kazablanca, for example, when you finish, when you do finish, for example, you can add as well Say, let's say you are in North Earth and you won't like to discover the southern Morocco in four days, for example, left, we can organize this here as well for you as a private tour. Yes, so you can explore. For example, you can go day trip to Sawera or to do Atlas Mountains for like, the rest, two days or three days, that is left after, after you are enjoying your, your northern tour, your southern tour.

AZDEAN: 1:04:27

Absolutely yeah.

SAM: 1:04:30

Yeah, what I want to add me food for when you are in Merzuga into dessert. Don't forget, for example, that they have a special dish there. It's called metfuno the buried. The yeah, the buried or berber pizza. It's, it's amazing. Especially if you are not vegetarian, you have to eat to try it, because it's, it's Prepared with meat and yeah, because some vegetables and spices and stuff.

AZDEAN: 1:04:57

Yeah, I remember Gordon Ramsay said that's the best piece of that. Thank you very much.

SAM: 1:05:03

Yeah that's yeah, that's it. Yeah, that's it.

AZDEAN: 1:05:07

Oh they make it here in the. That's why it's called buried.

TED: 1:05:11

You thought it's a stuffed pizza kind of thing it's berber pizza but it this one.

AZDEAN: 1:05:15

You have to order in advance as well. Just keep that in mind. Yes, please, yes.

TED: 1:05:20

Yeah, what kind of ingredients would they put?

AZDEAN: 1:05:23

in its local ingredients, you know, chicken, beef, goat cheese, vegetables. Yeah, it's really, really good. Yeah, it's delicious.

TED: 1:05:33

And is that only around Merzuga, you kind of?

AZDEAN: 1:05:37

that's one of the best places that it's recommended and also because mostly Irfood and Merzuga mostly yeah. But you can have it on your own, but sometimes, if you don't know the people, you may not turn out to be good. So that's, that's the thing that I keep, you know, emphasizing about Morocco you always have to have, you have to know somebody, and somebody knows somebody, and that's how literally you get whatever you need to get done, done. So.

TED: 1:06:05

Yeah, yeah.

AZDEAN: 1:06:07

Awesome.

TED: 1:06:09

Okay, well, yes, I know we're all hungry, so let's go get some food.

SAM: 1:06:15

Enjoy it.

TED: 1:06:18

So let me look at the calendar.

AZDEAN: 1:06:19

Our next live session should be January 10th, wednesday, january 10th yeah and yeah, we'll do the scam scam episode because we got so many requests and the one that we did back last year, season episode 4, was just amazing. So we're gonna do some updates, cams, yeah, some new things to look out for us. You know travelers to Morocco as clients, traveling with us to Morocco, so I'm looking forward to that one as well. So it's gonna be a lot of fun.

SAM: 1:06:51

Yeah, I was really many stories about it. By the way, funny stories about this comes.

TED: 1:07:04

You can happen.

SAM: 1:07:10

No, this comes exist everywhere in the world. It's not in Morocco, but it's it's. It's so fun, it's so funny. Yeah, we'll have so much so much fun.

AZDEAN: 1:07:18

Yeah, we don't even feel it. And, and the thing is, we just laughed. We did that game, man, we just laughed. Well, I'm ready to hear about that. Thank you so much, thank you.