The history of Morocco is reflected in its cuisine. Political refugees left Baghdad in the Middle Ages and settled in Morocco, bringing with them traditional recipes that are now common in Morocco but forgotten in the Middle East. We know this because there are striking similarities between a 12th century (Common Era) collection of recipes by Al-Baghdadi, and contemporary Moroccan dishes. A signature characteristic is cooking fruit with meat, for example quince with lamb or apricots with chicken. The same thing happened when many Morisco : Muslim refugees where expelled from Spain during the Spanish inquisition, this is why Moroccan cuisine is so rich.
Main dishes
The one Moroccan dish most people are familiar with is couscous which is of very old, probably Berber, origin.
The most commonly eaten red meat in Morocco is lamb. The breed of sheep in North Africa has much of its fat concentrated in its tail. This means that Moroccan lamb does not have the pungeant, reasty flavor that Western lamb and mutton can have.
The cuisine of Morocco is a mix of Berber, Moorish, Middle Eastern, Mediterranean and African cuisines.
Being at the crossroads of many civilisations, the cuisine of Morocco has been influenced by the native Berbercuisine, the Arabic Andalusian cuisine; brought by the Moriscos when they left Spain, the Turkish cuisine from the Turkish and the Middle Eastern cuisines brought by the Arabs as well as the Jewish cuisine.
Further influences upon Moroccancuisine came from the Morisco (Muslim refugees) who were expelled from Spain during the Spanish inquisition.
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