Ouarzazate Food: The Berber Tagine, the Dates of the Draa, the Argan of the Pre-Atlas, the Southern Morocco Couscous Tradition, and the Local Restaurant Scene
The Ouarzazate food route covers the Berber tagine as the most directly pre-Saharan single Moroccan tagine tradition, the Draa Valley dates as the most commercially valued single Moroccan agricultural product, the pre-Atlas argan oil connection, the southern Morocco couscous tradition, and the local restaurant scene.
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Berber Tagine: The Southern Morocco Preparation
The Ouarzazate Berber tagine, the most directly pre-Saharan single Moroccan tagine preparation cooked on the charcoal brazier in the conical clay tagine pot with the lamb, the honey, the dried apricot, the almond, and the saffron in the most aromatic single pre-Saharan spice combination, is the most climatically adapted single Moroccan meat dish because the slow sealed cooking method maximizes the most limited single fuel resource (argon wood or charcoal) and the sweet fruit components preserve the most perishable single desert ingredients. The Ouarzazate Berber tagine is the most directly indigenous single pre-Saharan Moroccan cooking method.
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Draa Dates: The Saharan Harvest
The Draa Valley Mejhoul and Boufeggous date varieties, harvested each October-November in the most commercially significant single pre-Saharan Moroccan agricultural event, are the most nutritionally complete single desert food and the most culturally embedded single southern Morocco agricultural product. The Draa date is eaten fresh from the tree in October (the most fragrant single Moroccan fresh fruit experience), dried in the sun for the winter storage, pressed into the amlou paste with the argan oil and the almond, and fermented into the lgmi palm wine (the most controversially traditional single Moroccan fermented beverage). The date palm is the most economically essential single tree in the Draa Valley agricultural system.
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Mechoui in the Desert: The Outdoor Banquet
The Ouarzazate mechoui, the whole roasted lamb prepared in the underground pit or the outdoor clay oven for the most festive single southern Morocco celebration (the wedding feast, the Eid al-Adha, the tourist group banquet), is the most atmospherically complete single Moroccan outdoor food preparation when performed in the desert landscape with the Atlas Mountain backdrop and the ksar tower visible behind the mechoui pit. The Ouarzazate tourist camp mechoui dinner, served in the most dramatically lit single Moroccan dinner setting (the desert night with the charcoal fire and the Amazigh musicians), is the most commercially successful single Moroccan food tourism product in the Ouarzazate region.
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Amlou: The Pre-Atlas Nutritional Staple
Amlou (the argan oil, toasted almond, and honey paste of the Souss and the pre-Atlas region) is the most nutritionally concentrated single Moroccan traditional food and the breakfast staple that most effectively sustained the trans-Saharan caravan traveler on the most demanding single long-distance trade route in West Africa. The Ouarzazate amlou, made from the argan oil of the pre-Atlas trees (the most southern single argan tree range in Morocco) and the local almond from the Dades valley, is the most directly locally-sourced single Moroccan traditional breakfast and the food that most clearly connects the Ouarzazate kitchen to the Souss Berber culinary tradition.
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Couscous Fridays: The Southern Berber Tradition
The Friday couscous tradition of the Ouarzazate Berber community, the most completely communal single Moroccan weekly food ritual where the family gathers for the most labor-intensive single Moroccan preparation (the hand-rolled semolina steamed three times over the meat broth in the keskes steamer pot), is the most directly culturally significant single Moroccan meal event and the preparation that most clearly demonstrates the Moroccan communal food philosophy. The Ouarzazate Friday couscous with the seven vegetables (carrot, turnip, courgette, onion, cabbage, pumpkin, and chickpea) is the most complete single traditional Moroccan couscous preparation.
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Ouarzazate Restaurants: The Local Circuit
The Ouarzazate local restaurant circuit - the restaurant at the Kasbah Taourirt, the Avenue Mohammed V restaurant row, and the Ait Benhaddou village restaurant - provides the most completely southern Morocco single Moroccan restaurant experience with the Berber tagine, the Draa date dessert, and the argan amlou breakfast at the most competitively priced single Moroccan pre-Saharan restaurant market. The Ouarzazate restaurant prices, the most affordable single Moroccan tourist destination restaurant circuit, make the city the most cost-effective single southern Morocco food experience base.