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Moroccan Fisheries and Saharan Foodways

Coastal

⚠ MOROCCO IS AMONG THE WORLD’S LARGEST SARDINE EXPORTERS and has the longest Atlantic seaboard in Africa — some three thousand kilometres, fed by the Canary Current upwelling. The ports: Tangier, Larache, Kenitra, Casablanca, El Jadida, SAFI — historically the largest sardine port — Essaouira, Agadir, Tan-Tan, Laayoune and Dakhla. The catch: sardine above all, plus mackerel, anchovy, hake, sea bream, octopus, squid, shrimp and the eel. The food: sardines grilled whole or butterflied in pairs around chermoula; fish tagine; fried fish from a stall; and the canning industry, which is an economic fact of the coast. THE SAHARA south of the Anti-Atlas — Guelmim-Oued Noun, Laayoune-Sakia El Hamra and Dakhla-Oued Ed-Dahab — is HASSANIYYA-speaking and its foodway is pastoral and Saharan rather than Moroccan-urban: camel and its milk, goat, dates, barley, the three-round tea, and the Saharan bread baked in sand. ⚠ THIS TERRITORY’S STATUS IS DISPUTED between Morocco and the Sahrawi independence movement, is not settled internationally, and this system records the foodway and the dispute without adjudicating the sovereignty.

Atlas — where and when

Where in the world

Communities and languages

  • Sahrawis community documented

Languages: Moroccan Arabic, Hassaniyya, Tachelhit

What is recorded

  • Morocco has the longest Atlantic seaboard in Africa, approximately three thousand kilometres, supported by the Canary Current upwelling, and is among the world’s largest sardine exporters, with Safi historically the largest sardine port. The Saharan south is Hassaniyya-speaking with a pastoral foodway of camel, goat, dates, barley and Saharan sand-baked bread. The status of that territory is disputed between Morocco and the Sahrawi independence movement and is not internationally settled; this system records the foodway and the dispute without adjudicating sovereignty. documented

Related foodways

This foodway relates to

  • related to Moroccan Cuisine documented
  • related to West African Foodways possible

    ⚠ The Saharan south is Hassaniyya-speaking and looks to Mauritania. The territory’s status is disputed and is not adjudicated here.

Recipes

No recipes are filed under this cuisine yet.