Anniversary in Morocco

8/4/24

Mike and I celebrated our 28th year of marriage yesterday. I’m grateful to have found a partner who craves adventure and travel like I do. Moving overseas kind of undoes any sense of ritual as everything is new. In the beginning, it’s a combination of sensory overload, jet lag, and trying to catch your breath. But then, with each passing day (and more sleep), you find a rhythm, as human nature calls us to do, regardless of the circumstances or context. 

Yesterday was one of those let life unfold kind of days. We attempted our first drive into the city of Casablanca and passed that test by navigating our way to Wang Thai Massage, more of an upscale Hammam with an Asian twist. We were scrubbed, every dead skin cell removed, and I was pretzeled in every which way with my Thai massage. We needed it!

Following our massages, we ventured to an outdoor market. The markets here are weekend or mid-week pop-ups. Several vendors, each with different tarped contraptions loosely linked together with a maze of vegetable stands winding their way to the chickens (freshly butchered on the spot), fresh catches of fish, herbs, and grains. My favorite was the variety and display of olives: at least 16 varieties, some pickled and steeped in herbs. Mike and I walked away with 5 bags of olives, about 2 kilos for $3. Outdoor market shopping is the way to go, not only due to the cost, as grocery stores double the price, but the freshness.

For me, there’s still something to be said about the integrity of food coming directly from the source. I’m picky about who I buy from. I typically peruse the market first to get a sense of who and what I might buy, which vegetables have the most brilliant shine, and the farmer. I look for a conscious connection that the farmer has to their food source. Some of this I learned from the outdoor markets I frequented weekly when living in Istanbul. 

Istanbul is also where I first experienced the best farmers chopping the stems off herbs for me to smell, opening a melon to sample the sweetness, or crumbling a block of feta to sample. It’s also where I first watched women smell produce, a habit I’ve now acquired. It’s comforting being back in a setting where these rituals are more commonplace with traditional farmers. 

The first vendor I stopped at, I eyed his lemons- brilliant yellow, thin rind. He picked one up shaved part of the rind and handed it to me to smell. I was sold. To give some perspective, I bought 8 perfect lemons and two onions from this vendor for $1. 

Moving from the lemon vendor, we made our way to a few other stands before making our way to the nuts, grains, and olives that decorated the back end of the market. The best vendors have you sample before purchasing, and the “nut guy” offered some of the best walnuts I’ve ever tasted.

Next were the olives. So many varieties of every shade, texture, and flavor. The green olives with fresh parsley and lemon made the top of the list, but the olives with red chili peppers hit every note on my tastebuds. This is a vendor I’ll definitely return to, even with the distance it took to travel there. For those who know me, I travel any distance for memorable food experiences. 

I look forward to more outdoor market journeys, my next mission is to find fresh pressed olive oil. The more we can do to support farmers directly, the better.