A Broad Traveling “When you’re traveling, ask the traveler for advice, not someone whose lameness keeps him in one place.” - Rumi

Fresh Meat

“Without the Djema el Fna, Marrakech would be just another Moroccan city”, wrote Paul Bowles. Once used for public executions, this ancient square, whose name means “assembly for the dead”, is now a stage for the living, where delicious acts of all kinds play out night and day.

By day, water sellers and musicians are out on the square, enticing tourists to part with a few dirhams. But, as the sizzle of the day slips into the cool, dark evening, rows of food stalls suddenly appear and grills fire up, turning the square into a sprawling, open-air restaurant. Clouds of smoke drift overhead, dripping with the succulent aromas of grilled lamb, beef and chicken, so thick you can taste them just by inhaling.

Famished after a long day of bus travel, we explore the aisles of tables, grills and stoves illuminated by strings of twinkling lights and gas-lit lanterns, smelling the menus even before we read them. Workers shout at us from every direction, tempting us to eat at their stalls. We decide on stall #7. A husky-voiced woman, permanently hoarse from years of shouting at customers, takes our order. For $7.00 we munch on crispy, peppery calamari, slurp down spicy harira soup, savor flaky chicken pastille tucked into pillows of phylo dough, and devour sizzling skewers of grilled lamb kebabs. We wash it all down with “Special Coke”, cheap red wine, decanted and disguised in Coca-Cola bottles - the only way to enjoy alcohol in the old Medina, where there’s a mosque around every corner.

Our bellies full, our fingers sticky and our palates intoxicated by saffron, paprika and cumin, we leave behind the brightly-lit stalls and venture into the smoky darkness. Crowds circle around storytellers, musicians, fortune tellers and dancers. Cobras sway to hypnotic music and men with slick leather coats and shifty eyes slither through the crowds. Keeping our hands firmly on our wallets, we realize that we give off an appetizing scent of our own…fresh meat.