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Stewed meat in a traditional Tanjine
It was the Moroccans themselves who advised me: "You absolutely must get lost in Marrakech." And I truly did get lost in the culinary labyrinth of Marrakech, with its various kinds of tanjine, boiled lamb's head, bagels, dried dates, pickled olives, and sweet, refreshing orange juice.
In particular, tajine is a dish that can be ordered in almost any restaurant in Marrakech, from upscale establishments with alluring belly dancers to humble eateries tucked away in small alleys. It's a traditional stew cooked over a low charcoal fire. The name tajine comes from the serving dish: a large, deep earthenware dish with a conical lid.
Tajine is produced in various sizes and decorated with different patterns and colors. Thanks to its unique shape, food cooked in a Tajine is always tender, infused with flavorful spices, and retains its shape. During my two days in Marrakech, I took the opportunity to try different types of Tajine, from beef, goat, and lamb to chicken and various accompanying vegetables. The different flavors of Tajine dishes are due to the proportions of spices such as coriander seeds, pepper, chili, turmeric, olives, and star anise, which are roasted and ground.
What impressed me most was the lamb Tajine I enjoyed at the Marrakech night market. The lamb, with its usual gamey smell removed, was stewed with potatoes, olives, eggplant, onions, and spicy green peppers. The more I tasted it, the more I appreciated the richness and diversity of Moroccan cuisine, not just in its abundant main ingredients, but in the harmonious blend of hundreds of unique North African spices.
✏ Address: Head to the center of the old market in Marrakech, located in Jemaa el-Fnaa square. The market stays open late into the night, offering a wide variety of typical Moroccan street food.
Pa'pion pork grilled in bamboo tubes, a traditional dish of the Toraja people in Indonesia.
Surprisingly, the Protestant community in Tana Toraja is quite large, so pork is more common than in other parts of this country with the world's largest Muslim population. Sulawesi has dense forests and abundant bamboo species. The Toraja people have used bamboo to build their traditional curved-roof houses for hundreds of years. Besides that, they also use it to make tools for preparing their own unique dishes. Looking at the thick bamboo tubes, as thick as the arms of strong young men, charred black from being heated over the fire, I thought it resembled the sticky rice cooked in bamboo tubes from Northwest Vietnam.
In Tana Toraja, the pigs are free-range, resulting in firmer meat. They finely chop the pork and marinate it with spices such as salt, sugar, black pepper, shallots, galangal, star anise, and crushed lime leaves. A key ingredient is finely chopped perilla leaves, which are added to the pork and wrapped in wild banana leaves before being tightly packed inside bamboo tubes. They grill the meat over hot coals, turning the tubes regularly to ensure even cooking. After about 45 minutes, a batch of perfectly cooked meat, along with the fragrant aroma of perilla leaves, rises from the bamboo tube. This dish is served with rice and a little spicy chili paste on top of the grilled meat, and eating it with your hands truly embodies the spirit of a local Toraja!
✏ Address: To enjoy the unique Pa'pion pork grilled in bamboo tubes, a specialty of the Toraja people on Sulawesi Island, you can visit any local eatery here.
Sipping tea made from coca leaves on the island of Taquile, Peru.
I walked along the length of the island of Taquile, once home to the Incas, who possessed one of the greatest civilizations of humankind. A peaceful atmosphere surrounded me by the calm, blue waters of Lake Titicaca.
At an altitude of 3,812 meters, Taquile left me dizzy, even though I was confident in my ability to adapt to high altitudes. Here, there's a type of leaf called coca leaf, which locals cultivate in front of their houses or on the slopes leading down to the lake. They are harvested and sold all around Lake Titicaca. These are the leaves used to produce Coca-Cola and, even more shockingly, to manufacture cocaine.
I stopped at a roadside tea stall, sipped a cup of subtly fragrant coca tea, leisurely savoring the taste of the coca leaf in my mouth, and inhaled the fresh air of Taquile, feeling instantly uplifted. Indeed, it was this very coca-scented tea that helped the locals cope with the harsh weather conditions at an altitude of over 3,200 meters, simply through a hot cup of tea in the early morning.
✏ Address: You can enjoy a cup of coca leaf tea on Taquile Island at roadside stalls along the journey from Puno city to the Lake Titicaca region.
