Berber food in the Ourika Valley: what to eat and how to cook it at home

Food in the Ourika Valley is simple mountain cooking: tagines slow-cooked on charcoal, round bread from clay ovens, amlou, seasonal fruit and sweet mint tea. Most visitors eat at the riverside restaurants of Setti Fatma. Here is what to order, how to eat, and three recipes to try at home.

• Tagines cooked slowly on charcoal in clay pots
• Bread baked in clay ovens, used as a spoon
• Lunch at tables set in the river at Setti Fatma
• Home recipes: tagine, Berber bread, mint tea

In the valley, food follows the seasons and the fields. What grows on the terraces, what the hens lay, what the walnut and apple trees give: that is what ends up in the pot. There is nothing fancy about it, and that is exactly why so many of our guests remember their Ourika lunch longer than a dinner in a Marrakech restaurant.

The tagine, and why the clay pot matters

A tagine is both the dish and the pot. The pot is a shallow clay dish with a tall conical lid. As the food cooks slowly over charcoal, steam rises into the cone, condenses and drips back down, so meat and vegetables cook in their own juices with very little water. The result is tender, concentrated and never dry.

In the valley you will mostly find chicken, beef or lamb tagines with vegetables, kefta (spiced minced meat) with tomato and egg, and vegetable tagines. Along the road to Setti Fatma, restaurants line up tagines on small charcoal braziers outside; it is the sign that lunch is being cooked the traditional way.

The clay matters. Plain terracotta spreads a gentle, even heat that suits slow cooking. The potters of the valley still make them, and if you want to buy one to cook with, read our guide to the pottery villages of Ourika first: decorative glazed tagines are not always made for the stove.

Bread from clay ovens

Bread comes with every meal and is used as much as cutlery. The everyday round loaf is khobz; in Amazigh villages of the High Atlas and the Souss, you also meet tafarnout, a thick flatbread named after the clay oven it is baked in. Inside the oven, one side holds the wood fire and the other a bed of small hot pebbles on which the dough is laid, which gives the bread its dimpled underside. Many families in the valley bake at home or in a shared village oven, and the smell of bread in the morning is one of the best reasons to stay a night in the valley.

Amlou, honey and the breakfast table

Amlou is a thick, glossy spread of roasted almonds, argan oil and honey, ground together. It is eaten with bread at breakfast or with tea, and it is rich, so a little goes a long way. Argan oil itself comes from the south-west of Morocco, not from Ourika; our page on the women's argan cooperative explains how the kernels are processed in the valley. With amlou you will often find honey, olive oil and fresh butter on the table, all for dipping bread.

Harira and couscous: when they are eaten

Two dishes that visitors expect everywhere, but that follow their own calendar:

• Harira is a tomato, lentil and chickpea soup. It is best known as the dish that breaks the fast every evening during Ramadan, and it is also eaten on cold days. It is not a standard lunch in valley restaurants, so do not be surprised if it is not on the menu.
• Couscous is traditionally the Friday family meal, prepared after midday prayers. Some restaurants serve it on other days for visitors, but if you are invited into a home on a Friday, it is likely what you will eat.

Mint tea, the everyday ritual

Mint tea is offered as a welcome in every home and shop. It is made with Chinese green tea (usually gunpowder), a big bunch of fresh mint and plenty of sugar, and poured from a height into small glasses so that it cools slightly and forms a light foam on top. The first glass often goes back into the pot to mix it well. In winter, mountain families may add other herbs, such as wormwood (chiba).

You may hear the saying that the first glass is "gentle as life", the second "strong as love" and the third "bitter as death". It is a pretty saying, often told to visitors, but it is folklore rather than a rule: in homes the number of glasses depends on the moment and the company. Accepting a glass is polite; you can decline a refill by covering the glass or saying "safi, shukran" (enough, thank you).

Eating at Setti Fatma

Most visitors eat at Setti Fatma, the village at the end of the road. The restaurants there are famous for their tables and chairs placed right in the shallow river or on terraces above it, reached by small footbridges. It is lovely on a hot day: shoes off, feet in the cold water, a tagine on the table. A typical lunch is a Moroccan salad, a tagine with bread, a plate of seasonal fruit and tea.

A few tips from our guides: ask for the price before ordering, especially for grilled meat or trout sold by weight; choose a place where tagines are visibly cooking on charcoal; and when the river is high after summer storms, sit on a terrace rather than in the riverbed. On our Ourika Valley day trip, lunch is paid on the spot, not included, so you are free to choose.

Etiquette at the table

• Wash your hands before eating; restaurants and homes will offer water and soap.
• Eat with your right hand. Tear a piece of bread, pinch the food with it and eat from the part of the dish in front of you.
• Let the host serve the meat. In homes, the best pieces are often placed in front of guests.
• Do not waste bread. It is considered a blessing; leftover bread is never thrown in the rubbish.
• Say "bismillah" before eating if you want to follow custom, and "shukran" (thank you) at the end.

If you want to experience this in a home rather than a restaurant, our trek and lunch with a Berber family is built around exactly that. For more on customs, see our page on the people and culture of the valley.

Vegetarian, vegan and other dietary needs

Vegetarians eat well: vegetable tagines, cooked salads (aubergine, peppers, carrots), lentils, omelettes and bread are everywhere. Strict vegetarians should ask whether a tagine was cooked with meat stock, and vegans should also ask about butter, smen (preserved butter) and honey. Gluten-free is harder, because bread is central, but tagines eaten without bread, salads and grilled dishes are possible. Tell us your needs when you book and our team passes the message to the restaurant in Arabic or Tashelhit.

Water and food safety

Drink bottled water with an intact seal, and use it to brush your teeth if your stomach is sensitive. Do not drink from springs, fountains or the river, however clear they look. Hot, freshly cooked food like tagine is the safest choice; peel fruit, and go easy on raw salads the first days. Tea is made with boiled water and is fine.

Three recipes to cook at home

These are home versions, adapted for a normal kitchen. They will not taste exactly like a tagine cooked on charcoal by a river, but they are close.

Chicken tagine with vegetables (serves 4)

Ingredients: 1 chicken cut into pieces (or 8 thighs), 2 onions, 2 garlic cloves, 3 carrots, 2 potatoes, 1 courgette, 2 tomatoes, a handful of chopped coriander and parsley, 1 tsp ground ginger, 1 tsp turmeric, 1 tsp paprika, a pinch of saffron (optional), salt, pepper, 4 tbsp olive oil, a handful of green olives, half a preserved lemon (optional).

Steps: 1. Slice the onions and spread them in the base of a tagine or a heavy casserole with the oil. 2. Rub the chicken with the spices, garlic, salt and pepper, and place it on the onions. 3. Arrange the vegetables, cut in long pieces, in a cone around the chicken. Add the tomatoes, herbs and half a glass of water. 4. Cover and cook on very low heat for 1 hour 15 to 1 hour 30, without stirring. With a clay tagine, use a heat diffuser. 5. Add the olives and lemon for the last 10 minutes. Serve in the pot, with bread.

Berber bread, home version (2 round loaves)

Ingredients: 500 g flour (half white, half wholemeal or fine semolina), 7 g dried yeast, 1 tsp salt, about 300 ml warm water, 1 tbsp olive oil.

Steps: 1. Mix flour, salt and yeast, add the oil and water gradually, and knead for 10 minutes into a soft dough. 2. Divide in two, shape flat rounds about 2 cm thick, and prick them with a fork. 3. Cover and leave to rise for about 1 hour. 4. Bake at 220°C for 20 to 25 minutes. For a pebble effect, bake on a hot tray lined with clean, oven-safe stones, or simply on a very hot baking stone.

Moroccan mint tea (a 1-litre teapot)

Ingredients: 1 tbsp Chinese gunpowder green tea, a large bunch of fresh spearmint, sugar to taste (traditionally a lot), about 1 litre boiling water.

Steps: 1. Put the tea in the pot, add a glass of boiling water, swirl, and pour the water out. This rinses the tea and removes some bitterness. 2. Add the mint, pressed down, and sugar, then fill with boiling water. 3. Heat for 2 to 3 minutes over low heat, without letting it boil hard. 4. Pour a glass, then pour it back into the pot; repeat once or twice to mix. 5. Serve by pouring from a height into small glasses to make a little foam.