Salad

The markets in Morocco are colourful. You can find all sorts of fresh vegetables there: tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, peas, carrots. Ingredients that can make a really tasty and fresh salad. At a place in Aourir, packed with tourists, I ordered a salad for the first time. It was absolutely disgusting. Cold rice, cold boiled potatoes and beetroot, a bit of cucumber and lettuce, and on top of it all a mixture of sweet and sticky sauces with an artificial flavour.

In restaurants and fast-food places, I often see just boiled potatoes, boiled rice and boiled beetroot. This applies both to Morocco in general and to the Rif Mountains. I still don’t understand why Moroccans want to eat it. I do like cold beetroot on baked potatoes nowadays. But freshly boiled and warm beetroot would be much tastier.

Another thing in salads that I also don’t understand is cold tinned tuna. If the tuna is warmed up or served with something hot, it can be tasty; then the taste and smell aren’t so strong. But cold tinned tuna makes me think of cat food.

Since that first disappointment, I haven’t ordered salad very often. But when I have, it’s come with a bit of cold tuna on top. A bit like a seasoning or decoration, as an alternative to a sprig of parsley.

Moroccan salad

These days, I only order Moroccan salad. It doesn’t contain any unpleasant surprises. It’s always decent and edible.

Sometimes it’s fresh and incredibly tasty. Sometimes it’s not so great; the tomatoes are mushy and the lettuce has brown spots.

Some restaurants prepare large batches of Moroccan salad all at once. If you’re lucky, you’ll get a salad with freshly cut vegetables; if you’re unlucky, you’ll get one that’s been sitting for hours.

Some restaurants include coriander in their Moroccan salad. If you don’t like coriander, I suggest that you ask.

Vegetables with the meal

Fast-food places often have sliced tomatoes, lettuce, olives and other vegetables that they put on sandwiches. If you order, for example, a chicken dish, it often comes with some vegetables. But usually not so much.

At a restaurant in Nador, I noticed that the tomatoes looked mushy, and the grated carrots looked wilted. I asked for a chicken platter with freshly cut vegetables, and offered to pay a little extra for it. The staff sorted it out, and the restaurant thereafter became my favourite.