Staple food stuffs.

[davebetty]

I will be in Morocco for 3 weeks and will be trying to camp and cook myself (that sounds silly) to keep costs down.

I need to have a good idea on what is the staple food stuffs in the country and if this changes as you go through the country ( won't be going as far as Western Sahara). I need to know this as I am a type 1 diabetic. I have to make sure I know where my carbohydrates are coming from.

I hear a lot about breads etc, does this come from the French infuluence?
What is the staple carbohydrate, rice, wheat or potato? Finally, are these avaiable at shops or am I likely to get them at markets (and therefore make sure I get to market).

Thanks for your help

Dave

[TheWarden]

Agroum/bread is available everywhere for under 2dh either flat breads or baguettes.

Couscous is a main staple and also available everywhere. Most large towns will have a wide selection and supermarkets, the Marjane chain of hypermarkets is also fairly well established north of the Atlas but only in Agadir south of the Atlas.

Eating out is also cheap in places but menus can be limited in small towns

[davebetty]

never really understood couscous. I didn't like it.kind of a posh nobs food with no real benefit? It was like rice choped up to me. Perphaps I need to learn a lot more.....

So that is the basis sorted out. Thanks. now I need a sauce. I am a man who loves to experiment with the local food to really make sure I know I have travelled! doesn;t matter what colour the end product is as long as it doesn't mean I am ill. are there local sauces you can buy to make up your staple meal? I will be a one pan cook man, so anything too clever is going to fall on it's face!

Again, I have always existed on the european way of eating, meat, pasta/potato/rice and a sauce with veg.

this may be a million miles away from what is served up in Morocco! but I could do with knowing what I can get.

I hope to resupply every 2 to 3 days so I am not in need of anything too long lived. What are the good meat to go for, especially where it is warm and stuff goes off quick? The idea of a meat Berber butty is rather intoxicating and i will have to make sure I leave with a suitable translation for such an..... oddity!!!!

Any suggestions are most appreciated, cheers dudes!

[Tim Cullis]

Accommodation is real cheap, the same with street food. You can get dinner, bed and breakfast for 150 dh in some places. So there's no good reason for either camping or DIY cooking unless it's because you enjoy it, or because you are planning to explore really remote places where there might not be accommodation.

I'm currently in Spain, will be in Morocco next week, and am carrying a tent for a few days of wild camping in remote places (e.g. Rekkam Plateau). My evening food will be a very boring unimaginative Broccoli and Cauliflower cup a' soup and oatcakes as I will be eating local street food during the daytime.
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But having written all that... Marjanne hypermarkets stock pretty much everything you'd get in the UK and are on the outskirts of many major towns—Tanger, Tetouan, Rabat, Salé, Casablanca, Mohamedia, Safi, Fez, Meknes, Marrakech, Agadir...

Local bread is excellent and crazily cheap (between 1 dh and 2dh/loaf). Because of the historical lack of refrigeration, oil takes the place of butter when eating bread. And despite the number of sheep you will see there's very little local cheese, but you can get 'Laughing Cow' triangles everywhere (about 1 dh per triangle which is expensive compared to the bread)

Potatoes tend to be a yellow, waxy variety, good in tajines. Couscous is easy as it's just a case of mixing with hot water (and maybe some stock powder) and waiting five minutes. Passata—as in finely mashed tomatoes—would be an easy sauce. Fresh corriander is one of the basics of Moroccan cooking and available everywhere. I always carry white pepper, chilli flakes, garlic granules and tabasco sauce to liven things up—there's nothing like hot spices to open the pores and cool you down.

Bacon, ham and pork are available in Marjanne, but not normally elsewhere. Chicken is cheap. But personally I would avoid fresh meat because of the heat, look for canned. Tinned sardines are one of Morocco's great exports and found everywhere. Eggs are about 1 dh each.

Take some resealable freezer bags with you, then if you are eating lunch and you want to save some, it's easy to store until later.


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[davebetty]

Thanks for that everyone. By the looks of it, I think I will enjoy my eats.

Have a great trip Tim.

Cheers

Dave

[Endurodude]

As above, eating's very cheap! Not only that, it's great too! Save some hassle and time and out!

[Rotten Ronnie]

I'm a type 2 Diabetic and it really opens your eyes when watching carbs for long days in the saddle.

I'm interested in how you manage your sugars when touring like this.

[davebetty]

I have to be very careful as to know what food I am buying and roughly how much carbohydrate is in it so I can give myself enought insulin. I will certainly be buying a lot of street food, but I need to be very careful to ensure I have food that I can be farmiliar with and know what i am taking.

Ronnie - I have been type 1 for most of my life now and coping with sugars when you are travelling on the bike can be tricky. The secret is to test sugars more than ususal. I tend to accept a little going too high sometimes especially when I am camping out away from others. The prospect of a bad low well away from others is not something I want to contemplate.

You just need to keep a check on your body, so often everything goes out of the window depending upon the temp and the terrain.

Lots of stops! is my best advice!