The Soul of Morocco

Tagine offers a taste of North Africa layered as the region's history

- Lucy Wildman

COUSCOUS MIGHT BE MOrocco's most famous food export, but it's a mere side dish when served with the sweet, spicy, slow-cooked and delicious stew known as tagine. This staple of North African restaurant menus around the world "captures the aroma and essence of so many traditional Moroccan flavours," says Ghillie Basan, author of several books about Moroccan cuisine.

The first written reference to a tagine-like dish appears in the famous collection of ninth century Arab folk tales One Thousand and One Nights.

Its roots are in the Berber-inhabited regions of North Africa; the Berber word for "shallow earthen pot" is tazin.