Morocco

Islamic feminism, two words one doesn’t expect to find together, defined my first experience with Morocco. Judy and I drove to Pasadena every day for two weeks to take an intensive “Women in Islam” class at Fuller Theological Seminary. We left every morning at 6 am and got back at 6 pm, which got me in trouble with the daycare if I arrived five minutes late to pick up five-year-old Kristen and three-year-old Kaitlin. (Allan was in Mongolia at the time or he would have been picking them up.) Kaitlin is now all grown up, met a Moroccan boyfriend during her visit there, and is the subject of the picture included in this blog. Wow, time flies!

But back to the class. Assigned reading included Beyond the Veil and Dreams of Trespass, both by Fatima Mernissi. This different world was fascinating to me and twenty some years later, these books stick with me. Since then, my book group has read two books by Laila Lalami, The Moor's Account and The Other Americans. This gave me four solid Moroccan books under my belt even before I found that Southwest Airlines includes as one of their in-flight movie options that most famous movie set in Morocco, Casablanca.

Just in January, I realized that I had never eaten in a Moroccan restaurant. Omicron was at its height, so Mom suggested we order to go when I invited her and Dad to Abigail's Moroccan Cuisine in Alameda. When we arrived for pickup there were only two people on the patio, so we stayed and enjoyed the amazing view of the bay and the city. Mom had her couscous and vegetables with lentil soup. Dad had his couscous and vegetables with chicken. I had a delicious Moroccan spicy tuna sandwich and the harira soup. Mom says she will return many times.

Inspired to eat more Moroccan cuisine, in February I enjoyed Casablanca: The Restaurant on the border of Costa Mesa and Newport Beach. The Casablanca salad included three items, a tomato and cucumber salad, a serving of spiced carrots, and a cooked eggplant dish. I also ordered the harrira, spelled slightly differently than at the first restaurant, but still a delicious soup with tomato, vegetables, chickpeas, lentils and cilantro.

Of the many food shows that cover Morocco, the two I found on Netflix showcase Marrakesh. The beautiful guest hostess Chrissy Teigen enlivened season 1 episode 2 of Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner. The dorky host of Somebody Feed Phil, which visits Morocco in season 3 episode 1, was surprisingly even more fun to watch. Moving out from the city into the Atlas mountains, Gordon Ramsey Uncharted season 1 episode 3 can be found on DisneyPlus. Chef Zama Memela’s Africa on a Plate series explores food from several additional areas in Morocco in episodes 20 through 24: https://theafricachannel.com/shows/africa-on-a-plate/

For more specific cooking instructions, “Technique and Polish: Mastering Moroccan Food,” episode 9 of The Everyday Gourmet: The Joy of Mediterranean Cooking can be found on Kanopy. As my first step into Moroccan cooking, last weekend I made a tagine for a book group and it came out really well: https://www.themediterraneandish.com/moroccan-vegetable-tagine-recipe/

I loved the Moroccan music videos I found! Especially watch the first video as it is unique:

· Saad Lamjarred: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZulwKDO-6B4

· Samira Said: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__YBz2R6Gpg

· An interview with RedOne, a Moroccan who has produced music internationally: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HE1Lmj0rjI

I also loved watching Gad Elmaleh’s comedy special American Dream on Netflix.

To dig a little deeper into the history and culture of Morocco, I tracked down:

· The writings of Morocco’s most famous historical figure in The Philosophy and Theology of Averroës: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/65708

· One of many resources available on Words without Borders, an article that surveys ten Moroccan authors and has links to some of their works: https://www.wordswithoutborders.org/article/march-2016-morocco-crossing-boundaries-ten-moroccan-writers-emma-ramadan

· Information on Moroccan architecture: https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/special-topics-art-history/creating-conserving/conserving-architecture/v/kasbah-taourirt-conserving-earthen-heritage-in-morocco

· The Unknown Saint, the weirdest, slowest comedy movie that I have seen but which was still fascinating. It reminds me a little of Napoleon Dynamite and can be found on Netflix.

The Crazy Tourist lists the fifteen best places to visit in Morocco: https://www.thecrazytourist.com/15-best-places-visit-morocco/ and I would love to go! I look forward to that time when we can travel broadly again. In the meantime, I’m hoping we all survive, thrive, recognize our mutual humanity, learn to deal with our conflicts, and allow peace, health, and safety to flourish in Morocco and throughout the world.

Photo credit: Alexi Decker, who was a great roommate to Kaitlin in France, and her fellow traveler to many exotic places, including Morocco.