If you’ve read some of my previous blog posts, then you already know that I’m a food lover of Moroccan descents, so, since Ramadan is approaching, I thought it’d only be normal to be talking about what Moroccans eat during Ramadan.

Ramadan is a holy month for Muslims where they stop eating from Fajr to sundown. Eating is the main part, but there are a lot of other aspects of fasting in Ramadan that includes praying, not talking about other people negatively, and so on.

For now, I’ll only be concentrating on the food part of Ramadan since I always have a lot of people ask me: “what? Do you actually stop eating from morning to Sundown? Not even water?” And the answers are always the same, no I don’t eat, and no I don’t drink, not even water but it’s okay. It is true that the first days of Ramadan are very hard, but once it reaches the third or fourth day, it becomes easier to fast and we get used to the routine.

What Moroccans Eat in Ramadan

When sundown finally comes, we usually break our fast with a couple of dates and a glass of milk or water. 

There are mainly two meals in Ramadan that we eat and they are:

• Suhour: The meal we eat before starting to fast.
• Ftour: And it’s the meal we eat after a long day of fasting.

Some people prepare the same meals for Suhour and Ftour, but I personally like each meal for its personal dishes.

For Suhour, Moroccans usually prepare something very light to eat like Moroccan flatbread “Msemen”, Moroccan pancakes “Beghrir”, or some omelettes that they eat with Moroccan bread. Nothing too fancy and too hard to make, just mainly simple meals that can be easily prepared. The reason for this is because no matter how much someone eats on Suhour, they’ll still get hungry by the middle of the day, so, there’s no reason to go crazy over it.

On the other hand, Ftour is something else. After a long day of fasting, we usually get really hungry and start fancying so many different things, so, the Ftour table becomes very versatile and can contain different things.

The main dishes that you’ll find on a Ftour table in a Moroccan household are:

• Harira: A tomato soup that contains chickpeas, parsley, and mini vermicelli and that is cooked over medium-high heat for hours.
• Chebakia: A Moroccan cookie dough shaped in the form of an eye that is fried and that is dipped in homemade syrup for hours.
• Hsoua: A soup made with semolina and milk and that is usually savoury. 
• Orange juice: Because we always need something fresh to drink. 
• Briouat: Small pastilla shaped in a triangle shape that can contain everything from vegetables to seafood. 
• Mhalbia: A sweet pudding dessert to make up for all the savoury dishes. 
• Msmen: A Moroccan type of crepe that is very crispy and flaky. 
• Dates: Because we usually break our fast with dates.
• Milk: For a little bit of freshness.
• Moroccan mint tea: Green tea is made with mint leaves and it makes up an important part of our  Moroccan culture. 
• Tagine: A Moroccan dish that can either be chicken, lamb, beef, or even vegetables cooked in a Moroccan pot called a Tagine.
• Juice: The most famous ones being carrot & orange juice or lemon juice. But a lot of other juices can be made during Ramadan depending on your taste.

And that’s what usually fills our Ftour table. Yes, it does seem a lot, especially for someone who has never fasted or has been invited to a Moroccan household during Ramadan, but it’s the reality.

Moroccan families gather around the table, and there are usually over four members, so there should be a lot of dishes that can be eaten by almost everyone.

Ramadan is one of the best periods in the year, and every year, I just can’t wait for it to come, and usually don’t want it to end because it helps all the family gather around the table to watch TV and share some funny stories. Ramadan brings the family closer each year and we can’t get enough of it. 

So, have you ever fasted, or have you ever visited Morocco in Ramadan?

Photos by Naim Benjelloun