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Tour Gastronomica Marraquexe

Why you should book a food tour in Marrakech

Why you should book a food tour in Marrakech

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If you are planning your Morocco trip and haven’t booked a food tour in Marrakech yet, I don’t know what you are waiting for 😝.

Marrakech is a vibrant city: with many colours, many smells, and many sounds. As you would expect, everything is intense and so is its cuisine. Moroccan cuisine is a mixture of other cuisines, such as Arabic, Berber, Andalusian, and even Mediterranean.

As soon as I booked my trip to Marrakech, I was immediately very curious about what were the typical dishes in Morocco. A quick search on Google and I had a long list of dishes I wanted to try on my trip to Marrakech. And that’s why I decided to book a food tour in Marrakech.

And let me tell you, it was one of my favourite experiences in the city. Besides the delicious food I tried on the tour, I got to know more about Moroccan food culture (and much more!).

What to visit in Marrakech Medina Jemaa el-Fna Square
Jemaa el-Fna Square

It was 6 pm when I met the guide of the food tour in Marrakech at Jemaa el-Fna Square. There were only 6 people on the tour, which allowed for a closer relationship with the guide. The guide was very friendly and available to answer any questions we had about Moroccan gastronomy and the country’s culture.

Over the next 3.5 hours, we would make our way through the cramped and chaotic streets of the medina. We would visit places that, either because of the language barrier or the external appearance, I probably wouldn’t have had the courage to experience without the guide. And what a great experience that was 😉.

📝 USEFUL INFORMATION: The company I chose for this food tour in Marrakech was Marrakech Food Tours and I couldn’t recommend it more!

Without wanting to give too many spoilers (even though the tours are not always the same), I’ll tell you a little bit about the various stops we made along the tour.

Food Tour in Marrakech – Stop 1

We had walked a few metres from Jemaa el-Fna square when we entered the first restaurant. Here we had the opportunity to try tanjia (not to be confused with the equally famous tajines).

A tanjia is shaped like an urn and is made of clay. It takes several hours to cook and is a communal dish that you should eat at a slow pace. It is usually eaten by holding a piece of bread, which helps pull the meat with the right hand.

It was also here that we tasted lamb méchoui. This dish is cooked in vertical ovens built under the floor. The oven is covered with a lid sealed with clay and the dish takes about 5 hours to be ready.

Food Tour in Marrakech – Stop 2

The second stop on this food tour in Marrakech was a small stall selling olives and preserved lemon, among others. Both products are quite typical in Morocco, accompanying many of the traditional dishes, such as tajine.

Food Tour Marrakech

We had the opportunity to try both, and there were many varieties of olives, and we tried them all.

Food Tour in Marrakech – Stop 3

After two salty stops, the third stop on this food tour in Marrakech was at a street stall selling svenj. Svenj is a kind of doughnut – a fried pastry that we can dip in sugar or honey.

Food Tour Marrakech
Svenj being fried

I confess that this might have been my favourite stop of the tour 😍. As they had just been fried, they were still very crispy.

Food Tour in Marrakech – Stop 4

We moved on to another typical restaurant. This time to try harira – one of the most famous Moroccan soups. Made from tomatoes, lentils, chickpeas, pasta, rice and some spices, this soup is especially popular during Ramadan, as it is usually used to break the fast.

Food Tour Marrakech
Harira

To accompany the soup, we also had the opportunity to try chebakia – a kind of rose-shaped biscuit that is fried and coated with honey and sprinkled with sesame seeds.

Food Tour Marrakech
Chebakia

Food Tour in Marrakech – Stop 5

Despite being something more common with Portugal, on the fifth stop, we tried snails. I confess that I’m not a big fan and, for that reason, I was the only one in the group that didn’t try it. But those who tasted them really liked them!

Food Tour Marrakech
Stall in the street selling snails

Food Tour in Marrakech – Stop 6

To be totally honest, at this point of the tour I was doubting whether I could eat much more considering how full I was 😱. But I still managed to taste the food on this sixth stop. Made with much love and care by Fatima in a restaurant that I would never have visited if it wasn’t for this tour, we tried some couscous that were quite delicious.

Food Tour Marrakech
Couscous

Food Tour in Marrakech – Stop 7

And lastly, this food tour in Marrakech ended in a local café, where we tried two juices (one with avocado and the other with various fruits) and some typical sweets, which we ended up saving to eat the next day.

Food Tour Marrakech
Fruit and avocado juices

I really hope this blog post has made your mouth water to book your food tour in Marrakech. This is a really great way to get to know the local cuisine, interact with the locals, and to visit places you probably wouldn’t visit otherwise.

I remind you that I booked my visit with Marrakech Food Tours and absolutely loved it 😍.

💡 EXTRA TIP: If you can, book this tour for one of the first days of your trip. This will give you more confidence when visiting the chaos of the Marrakech medina on the following days, and you will certainly be more willing to try more street food.

Disclaimer: this post may contain some affiliate links, which means I get a small commission if you buy something through my links. This doesn’t represent any additional cost to you and you’ll be supporting my work here on the blog😊

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about me

A Ticket To Take Off About Me

I am Mariana from Porto, Portugal. I am truly passionate about traveling and all things travel related. And that’s exactly what led me to create this page: so I can inspire others to travel and help plan all those trips with my tips and itineraries.

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Marrakech - What to Visit: 2 days Itinerary (map included) — A Ticket to Take Off
1 year ago

[…] SEE ALSO  Why you should book a food tour in Marrakech […]

touristify
10 months ago

This is a very nice article, Morocco is a magnificent place with its history and nature, you should definitely visit and discover it city by city.this is really a very different country