Berber cuisine

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The Berber cuisine is considered as a traditional cuisine which evolved little in the course of time.

In general the Berber kitchen differ from one area to another within North Africa. Thus it is not easy to speak about a typically Berber kitchen. A classification is essential, in order to emphasize the specifities of each Berber group. Zayanes of the region of Khénifra around the Middle Atlas have a kitchen of a remarkable but tasty simplicity. It is based primarily on corn, barley, ewe's milk, chévres cheese, butter, honey, meat, and game.

The principal Berber food is:

bread made with traditional yeast
"Bouchiar" (fine wafer without yeast soaked with butter and natural honey)
"Bourjeje" (pancake made containing flour, of eggs, yeast and salt)
"Tahricht" (containing tripe: gonglion, trépine, lung, heart: these ingredients rolled up with the intestines on a stick of oak which will be cooked on amber.)
lamb barbecue - a whole sheep roasted in artisanal furnaces, designed especially for this use. The sheep is coated with natural butter, which makes it tastier. This dish is mainly designed to be served at festivities.

Although they are the first inhabitants of North Africa, Berbers lived in very contained communities and in spite of various incursions by Phoenicians, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Ottomans and French. Having been subject to little external influences. these populations lived apart from the factors of acculturation.

The couscous and Tagine are the principal dishes of in particular feasts, celebrations, etc... Couscous was invented in the kabylie region of Algeria. At the time it was an economic dish, in the means of everyone.