Food Tours · Tour

Pastilla, Briouates and the Sephardic Dishes of Morocco

The menu is the reason. Most Marrakech classes teach a tagine and a salad; this one runs through salads, briouates, tagines, pastilla, couscous, and traditional Sephardic dishes, which is a longer and more interesting list. The Sephardic part is the one to notice. Morocco had a Jewish community for two thousand years, and its cooking left a mark on the national kitchen that most visitors never hear about: different uses of preserved lemon, different sweet-savoury combinations, dishes built around the Sabbath. Very few classes in the city touch it. Pastilla is the other one worth crossing town for: warqa pastry, pigeon or chicken, almonds, cinnamon and icing sugar, sweet and savoury in the same bite, and a genuine test of technique. The school is in a large residence, and the workshops are run by people who teach them for a living, in what they describe as respect for family culinary tradition rather than restaurant style. Three and a half hours. Up to fifteen people, in English, French or Arabic, with lunch or dinner, bottled water, tea or coffee, and an air-conditioned vehicle. Wheelchair accessible throughout, prams fine, infant seats available.