Close to the Bone

Living in Morocco has given me a whole new perspective on food. The way that food is raised and brought to market is less mechanized and complex here. You see crops growing everywhere and animals roam freely. Food is raised locally and naturally, not because of some grand philosophy, but because that is what has worked for centuries and what still works today.

Of course, I have only observed for a few months so I am no expert on the Moroccan agricultural system. However, I know that the farmer's market style of buying that many Americans are trying to resurrect never went away in this country. It is a part of daily life and the heart of the weekly souks.


I also know that I never came across a pile of chicken feet on the floor of the supermarket.
This is the freshest that chicken can get. At the souk there are several pins set up where you literally choose your chicken and have it killed, butchered, and defeathered right there. The first couple times I saw this it was pretty gross. But after being here a while these things begin to become normal and you start to wonder why we can't get chicken this fresh in America.



This is a guy working the defeathering machine. It basically has these big rubber blades that whack the feathers off. This comes after the chicken is killed and dipped in boiling water to loosen the feathers. The guys doing this stuff are a usually really cheerful.




Another big difference in how meat is eaten is the fact that in rural areas, every man knows how to butcher a sheep. Many people raise sheep in my area, but the reason that every adult man has this knowledge is due to the Muslim holiday of Ramadan. The details will wait for another post, but as many probably know, every family slaughters an animal, usually a male sheep, at the end of a long period fasting. During the following week every part of the animal is eaten in huge meals. This picture shows part of the sheep's head which is one of the Moroccan favorites which I did not find too appetizing.

Living in Morocco has brought me closer to the food I eat. At times this can be a bit gross, but in all I think that it has been an enlightening and healthy experience.