Cooking class and a hammam

We booked a cooking class on Sunday with a local family in the hopes of cracking the Moroccan cuisine mystery. The sun and temperature climbed high as we walked the 25 min from our Airbnb into a labyrinth of homes and streets. We found Yassine and his mom waiting for us, and got right to work, chopping and peeling vegetables to make tagine and harira. Mom doesn’t speak any English or French, so her son translated for us.

We got all the ingredients cooking away, and had some time to kill, so Yassine brought out a board game to teach us, called Patchya. It is a basic roll and move with enough rules overlaid to provide the need for some strategy. Angela won, but I’m sure she’ll agree it was only due to lucky dice rolls.

Then it was time to enjoy the fruits of our labours. Both dishes were very tasty! Yassine explained that tagines in restaurants are often underwhelming, and that the best tagines are found in people’s homes. Today’s results confirmed that.

With full bellies and good notes, we left and headed for the famous tanneries of Fes. The guidebook warns what to expect from this experience – being lost in the back alleys, hassled by touts, misled by guides, but we experienced none of that. Well, to be fair, we did identify a guide leading a group of tourists through the maze and followed them at a discreet distance.

We found ourselves on a terrace overlooking the ancient tanneries and marvelled at how the ancient techniques are still used, and wondered at the toll of must take on people’s health.

We wandered some shops and appreciated the handiwork, but to the disappointment of the vendors we purchased nothing. There’s not a lot of spare room on a motorcycle!

We then went for another traditional Moroccan experience – the hammam. It’s a combination public bath house / spa. We were treated to a full body scrub down, followed by massage with rose-scented oils. Not a gentle experience, but we came away clean, refreshed and nice(r?) smelling.

With all that walking through the market, it was now time to eat. We had found a vegetarian restaurant, Veggie Pause, and so went there for a light supper before turning in.