Meals are usually later in Morocco - breakfast around 11 AM or noon, lunch at 3 or 4 PM, and dinner after 10 PM - although we are on a different schedule with breakfast before our classes start at 10 AM and a “normal” dinnertime this past month of 7:45 PM due to Ramadan.
Every morning (even during Ramadan!), my host mom and dad prepare Moroccan mint tea with lots of sugar with millowe (a type of bread that has layers like crepes but is thicker) or pain aux chocolat (a croissant-like pastry with chocolate at the bottom) along with butter, spreadable cheese, and homemade strawberry jam for us for breakfast. Coffee here is also prepared with lots of milk and sugar - it’s probably more like 1/3 coffee, 2/3 milk!
I usually skip lunch because iftar/dinner is usually very filling and our only option around midday (since most restaurants are closed due to Ramadan) is a restaurant nearby that sells delicious but somewhat unhealthy sandwiches. I’ve walked to McDonalds* a couple of times with friends, but it’s actually quite expensive when compared to other options - I could get a sandwich and a big bottle of water for 10 or 15 dirhams or get a small-sized meal at McDonalds for 30 dirhams at the cheapest! I’ve also tried to get fruit or yogurt to eat but I have to plan farther in advance if I want to eat that since a lot of the stores near AALIM don’t offer either.
Dinner (or iftar, the meal to break the fast) is usually fresh orange juice and water to drink along with harira (thick soup with some spaghetti noodles and chickpeas), bread, potato dumplings, olives, eggs, and vegetables with meat or fish. The last dish is usually cooked in a special oven called a tagine; the tagine dish itself is a Moroccan specialty. Couscous is also a specialty here and it’s usually eaten on Fridays for lunch, although we haven’t gotten to try it yet because of Ramadan!
Fruit is usually served for dessert, but we haven’t gotten too much of it. There are special sweets for Ramadan that are made with lots of honey that we’ve had, and ice cream is sold at most small shops in the street (thank goodness!). We learned how to make lemon-coconut cookies last week but that doesn’t seem to be a normal sweet. There are some pre-packaged cookies for sale at the shops, as well as some candy.
Milk, eggs, and sometimes yogurt are not refrigerated here - I still haven’t gotten used to drinking warm milk! There’s also a white-colored drink that’s thick like yogurt but drank like milk; it’s very sour and my host mom laughed after I could only take a sip.
Enjoying traditional food with the family is definitely one of my favorite parts of my experience here, especially because the food is so different from what is considered traditional Middle-Eastern/Arab cuisine.
*McDonalds and Pizza Hut are the only two American chain restaurants in Meknes.