FOOD! FOOD! FOOD!

I love food. Yeah yeah yeah, I know that is no shocker to my family and friends but this may be: I am increasingly eating healthy foods like fruits and vegetables. Actually, more vegetables than fruits but it sounds better when I group them together.

A large reason for this is all the fresh food available to me. This is, in addition, to the high cost of meat. A kilo of kefta is 80 dirhams vs. a kilo of chickpeas at 12 dirhams or a kilo of potatoes at no more than 5 dirhams. Since the majority of my food comes from souk, its fresh, local, and I like to think, organic. And what a difference freshness makes!

I have always enjoyed cooking but, here, because there is no such thing as sauce mixes, microwavable food, or take-out Thai :(, I have to cook almost everything I eat. Shortly after arrival in-country, Peace Corps gave each volunteer a cookbook. Of all the manuals I was handed, this is the only one I have devoted a significant amount of time too. While several of the recipes require tweaking, it has a significant repertoire of yummy food recipes—alfredo, lentil soup, hummus, fajitas, falafel, quiche, and so much more!

As Peace Corps countries go, Morocco is tops in food. I am not being smug or presumptuous. Marrakech was rated as the number one food destination of 2009 by The New York Times. One of my favorite things about this country is the plentiful spices. Let’s face it, I live in spice heaven.

The longer I live here, the more my palette increases. The more I like, the more options I have to cook. As a result, my cooking skills have improved significantly. And it is easier to cook when dealing with fresh garlic, peppers, and onions.

This is all a roundabout way to talk about my recent food adventures. I spent last weekend in Bri’s site. Bri is a great cook and, recently, started a food blog. Well, Bri found some spinach (!) and cooked a delicious spinach lasagna, focaccia bread, scones, and cake. So much of my excitement here revolves around food--for good reason. Food has such a healing power. It is amazing how rejuvenating a good mac and cheese or homemade pizza can be.