subject: Souk Snacks, Soul Snacks In Morocco And Tunisia [print this page] Your first visit to a Middle Eastern souk is an extraordinary assault on the senses. From every side, youre bombarded with the exotic smells of incense, spices, leather, carved wood even a ferrous undernote of fresh blood. You hear the constant jabber of conversation and laughter melding with lilting music, laughter, the slap of sandals on stone, the cluck of a chicken. Brilliant colours surround you too the intense gold of saffron, the mellow gleam of brass, the jewel hues of carpets, the brick red of fresh meat, marbled with snowy fat. Touching becomes instinctive you cant help yourself rubbing fabric between your fingers, testing the weight of a piece of jewellery, caressing the cool glaze on a piece of pottery, testing the ripeness of a fig. But its the urge to taste that is most overpowering what is that? Can we try it? How much is it? What shall we have next? Put your prejudices behind you and experience this new world through your tastebuds aim to try anything once!
In the souks of Morocco, youll see vendors selling a dizzying range of foodstuffs, from the familiar to the bizarre. The huge conical heaps of spices arent quite what they seem, but rather a thin layer of spice pasted over a mould, but its still worth stocking up on a few grams of saffron, chilli, turmeric or cumin to take home with you the prices are rock-bottom and the quality is superb. Olives come in a dizzying array of varieties, as do walnuts and almonds and they make an ideal nibble to enjoy while you decide on the next stage of your souk feast. There are some stalls you might want to avoid if you wish to keep your appetite intact: live chickens and turtles will be on sale, as will whole camel tongues. But its worth overcoming your squeamishness and ordering a portion of snails if you come across them. Many visitors to are surprised at the popularity of the molluscs, but the influence of French cuisine is apparent across the country. Unlike in France, where snails are generally served with sizzling garlic butter, in Morocco theyre simmered in a broth flavoured with aniseed, licorice root, thyme, mint, pepper and orange peel.
As you explore the magnificent Roman ruins on your holiday in Tunisia, youll notice marine themes everywhere. A mosaic border designed to resemble waves; Neptunes trident breaking the surface of the ocean; leaping dolphins. And fish are to be found just as often on Tunisian food stalls as in the countrys ancient art. Forget fancy flavourings its just grilled or pan-fried and served as simply as only the very freshest fish can be. If your body is calling for carbs, try briq, the traditional snack of wafter-thin pastry wrapped around an egg and flavoured with parsley, onion, capers and yet more fish its a delicious dish to eat on the go, but you may well end up with egg on your shirt-front. Eggs feature again in ojja, this time poached in a tomato sauce, often containing spicy merguez sausage. And theyre a key ingredient in the iconic street-food dish lablabi, in which bread is soaked in the cooking broth from chickpeas, topped with plenty of the pulses themselves, flavoured with a dollop of fiery harissa, ground cumin and a glug of olive oil, and finally crowned with a poached egg.
