Couscous

What it is

Couscous is cereal semolina, rolled by hand into small grains and cooked over steam, served with vegetables and meat.¹ The UNESCO inscription of 2020 covers not only the dish but also its production, the utensils, the customs and the occasions on which it is eaten.² The decision of the Intergovernmental Committee records that the preparation is a ceremonial process in several steps, from growing the cereal through grinding and rolling to steaming, and that rituals, oral tradition and social customs are passed on along with the dish.³ It is eaten on the plains, in the mountains, in the oases and on the coast, everywhere with its own particularities, and is regarded as a heritage of women and men in town and country.⁴

Where it comes from

The word goes back to Amazigh forms such as seksu, kuseksi or kseksu, which denote well-rolled grains; in Arabic dictionaries kuskusi is attested from the 19th century.⁵ In the Moroccan dialects, saksu is one of the most common terms.⁶ The inventory sheet of the Moroccan Ministry of Culture of February 2019 gives couscous, t'am, kseksu and seksu as the names in use and counts the dish as the heritage of all regions, from the north across the plains, the Atlas and the oases to the provinces of the Sahara.⁷ Harrell’s 1966 dictionary of Moroccan Arabic lists seksu and kesksu, along with keskas for the perforated steamer and the verb keskes, to make or eat couscous.⁸

History

The first mentions of couscous in historical sources date from the end of the 8th century, by Muslim authors who praised its merits.⁹ Besides seksu, Harrell’s 1966 dictionary also records baddaz, a couscous of maize semolina, belbula and sikuk, couscous with buttermilk, seffa with sugar and cinnamon, and the garnish tfaya of onions, cinnamon and raisins.¹⁰

What it is made of

The basis is semolina of wheat or barley, locally or depending on the season also of maize, millet, sorghum or acorns.¹¹ It is served with vegetables and various meats, also fish, according to the area, season and occasion.¹² In Morocco efforts are being made to obtain a mark of origin for khmassi, a couscous of five cereals.¹³

How it is made

The work begins with the cereal, which has been grown in North Africa since the Neolithic, and with grinding it into semolina, formerly with the hand mill at home.¹⁴ Women roll the semolina in bowls of clay, wood or basketwork and sieve the grains to an even size; rolled in this way it keeps for months.¹⁵ Traditionally the young women do the rolling, the older ones supervise the process and the cooking, and the girls help; it is learned by watching and imitating.¹⁶

Before cooking, the grains are moistened and steamed two or three times in the couscoussier, made of halfa grass, clay or nowadays also metal, over the pot with the sauce.¹⁷ The clay vessels are made by women potters, the wooden utensils by cooperatives or workshops, often family-run.¹⁸ The inventory sheet lists the utensils: the hand mill, today mostly replaced by the mechanical mill, flat wickerwork dishes for rolling, sieves (bussayar, chtato) of various meshes, the pot for the sauce, which also supplies the steam, and the steamer keskas, whose join with the pot is sealed with a strip of damp cloth and dough; it is served in large dishes, gasaa or tazlaft.¹⁹

Well-known Moroccan preparations are couscous with seven vegetables, such as tomato, carrot, turnip, courgette, aubergine, pumpkin and cabbage depending on the season, and couscous with tfaya, braised onions with raisins, sugar or honey and cinnamon.²⁰ Saffa is a very fine couscous that is only steamed, without meat or broth, with fresh butter, sugar and cinnamon.²¹

When

On Friday, couscous is often eaten together at midday in Morocco; some hand it out on that day.²² The inventory sheet links it closely with Friday and mentions the restaurants in towns and villages that offer it on that day.²³

When someone dies, neighbours take turns bringing couscous to the family; on the seventh day after a birth, a shared couscous is handed out to neighbours, relatives and even passers-by.²⁴ In Morocco it is also at the centre of festivals such as Anzar, a rain ritual, and of festivals of the farming year such as Yennayer, the Amazigh New Year, and locally Aghdal.²⁵ At a wedding the bride is offered a couscous with cinnamon and dried fruit.²⁶ In rural areas large quantities of semolina are rolled by the neighbours in the twiza, communal work that comes with its own songs and set phrases.²⁷