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Moroccan Cuisine

Moroccan Cuisine has influences from around the Africa, Middle East, and Europe due to its close location to all of these regions geographically. This geographical location gives Morocco easy access to trade products and ideas, seen with the vegetable seed controversies currently happening, to all of the locations. Common crops found in the region include carrots, beans, peas, and onions. The region often uses dryland farming and there are currently large debates about agronomic vs. agricultural crop growth. In terms of food security in Morocco, the agriculture industry provides security for a significant part of the population with the physical food, a spot in the workforce, and ultimately income as well. Morocco hosts outdoor food markets in secluded areas, causing men to do the grocery shopping for households. In Morocco's early history, a lot of origins for crops like wheat were destroyed by drought which set the country up for a period of hunger and recovery that still exists a bit today. Due to this current state of hunger, during the 1980s Northern African government began making movements toward food security in their policy amendments.

Agricultural Practices

Morocco has farming practices and expansion ideas coming from their neighboring economies and countries, each of which introduces new ideas and crops to the population's diet. Morocco's, "Farmers produce primarily grains for human & animal consumption; other crops are introduced as farm size increases, more labor & capital can be appropriated, & staple food crops are secured. A large portion of the income generated from commercialized agricultural products is used to purchase food items not produced on farm."

Agronomic vs. Agricultural crop controversies [edit | edit source]

Morroco's conveinent location allows their ports to exchange with European, Middle Eastern, and African nations.

Morocco location with some trading ports

The issue with this is that not all of the vegetables, crops, and seed varieties being exchanged have an ideal climate for cultivation in Morocco. In the job market, this increases the access to jobs in order to cultivate the crops but does not directly help fund the economy of Morocco. The population may be working to cultivate the new vegetable seed varieties but they do not have the knowledge to do it properly and effectively. In addition to the lack of knowledge, “they do not have their own vegetable breeding industry to develop new varieties specific to their environments.”[2] When the crops are all done and ready for sale, the worked then continue to have little seed knowledge about what they’re growing and selling to consumers which does not allow them to properly inform buyers about the product for sale. “Even in remote underdeveloped areas, consumers have become accustomed to the opportunity to choose among various vegetable products in the marketplace, and tend to purchase only those that have the best appearance with consistent size, shape, colour, etc.,” ….. says. With that, only, “small or subsistence farmers in these areas must grow vegetable products that consumers will purchase, which means either hybrid or open-pollinated, pure-line varieties that have consistent quality and appearance.”

Food Security In Morocco:

Morocco’s median income is 5,300 MAD, equivalent to 525 US dollars, meaning 53% of the country lives in poverty. Food security in Morocco accounts for income and wealth in the area--“Agriculture is central to the food security and economic growth of developing countries, and is the primary source of income for most of the world’s poor (Wheeler and Kay 2010)." 

Gender Roles:

A suq in Marrakesch, Morocco

To fulfill household food needs, families in Morroco visit their outdoor food markets, known as the sūq. Women traditionally cook and prepare the meals for families, including their extensive lghiddā', lunch. Men are given the responsibility to do the food shopping since they tend to be not centrally located. Similarly to other cultures, the women are the preparers and servers of the meal. Unique to Moroccan culture is that the men participate in the meal beyond just receiving it but by gathering the ingredients and groceries for families.

Hunger:

In 1878, Morocco's kingdom of wheat crops was destroyed by a drought which ultimately led to a food shortage and crisis. This monumental event still trickles down and leaves the country in parts hungry and more scarce. Wheat is a crop that contributes to many larger meals and foods—bread, flour, and pies to name a few. The trickle down modern day Morocco sees comes from common health related issues in the region due to hunger and malnutrition. An example of this is anemia, a decrease in red blood cell levels common in developing countries. Iron deficiency is a less severe form of anemia, which women and children in developing countries often suffer from due to lack of availability to resources supplying iron—red meat, beans, leafy vegetables.

Obesity Issues in Morocco:

In recent years, studies have found "that the prevalence of obesity among urban women aged 20 years or older was 8.7%10 in the first study and increased to 19.1% 15 years later," specifically in Morocco. With its diverse ethnic makeup, Morocco has large populations of Berber, Arab, and Sahraoui--creating a larger sampling for population diversity ... Experiments have shown that this is prevalent in urban areas because of the urbanization movement which is. " highly associated with several dietary and behavioral risk factors not only for chronic disease but also for obesity."

Policy:

In the 1980s, liberalization policies began to be prevalent in Northern African food policies to sway away from favoring economic markets and toward securing citizens with both local and imported goods Government intervention with the food market was to better regulate and distribute sources while attempting to diminish hunger across the board. Since this change in policy, Morocco has seen a shift in national fiscal stability—“the fiscal problem is driven primarily by subsidies to consumer goods (fuels and food) which represent 15 percent of total public spending and have almost doubled in absolute terms since 2010, as the government tries to contain the civil unrest through more generous spending on subsidies and public-sector salaries.”

Animal Welfare:

Street animals in Morocco are often covered in mainstream media as being poorly cared and regarded for. There are laws and legislations that protect animals on farms to better regulate their treatment. According to the World Animal Protection, “Animals used in farming are included in the protection of Articles 601, 602 and 603 of the Criminal Code, which prohibits poisoning and prohibits maiming and killing on the owner’s land.” The laws further regulate control of disease for health and safety, but not about welfare specifically.

Traditional Moroccan Dishes:

Harira Soup

Morocco’s traditional meals often include ingredients like cumin, turmeric, ginger, and other spices. Due to its location, it has influences from many different backgrounds that ultimately cause the traditional dishes to be diverse in taste and rich in culture. A traditional soup but also crucial to the holiday of Ramadan is Harira Soup or Berber Soup not during the holiday. Harira Soup is traditionally used to break the Ramadan fast. The recipe calls for all the previously mentioned spices along with others, like cayenne, saffron, and cinnamon. The base of the soup is lentils and beans, crops mentioned that the land and climate are best suited to properly harvest compared to other seed variations brought over through trade with neighboring countries.