21/12/2023
Did you know … ❓❓ 👀 🤓
That couscous officially entered UNESCO's intangible cultural heritage on Wednesday December 16, 2020?
The file was presented and defended by four Maghreb countries: Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia and Mauritania.
Now you do ! 😁
Wanna know more? Let me tell you a story…
Let’s call it: Couscous: origins, history and variations.
« Couscous », this funny name comes from the Berber “Kseksu”, which refers to wheat semolina and so gives its name to this popular dish.
The same goes for « Kiskes », the name of the pot in which couscous is steamed because – YES – couscous is steamed and – NO – it is never boiled in water 😱
This is actually one of the reasons why couscous remains a healthy dish despite the fact that it is copious 😉
My grandmother used to say that these Berber words are onomatopoeias coming from the sound we hear when the semolina grains are moved around in a pot… « Kss kss kss ».
Makes sense, no? 😅
It was in the north of present-day Algeria, 2 centuries BC, under the reign of the Berber king Massinissa (238-149 BC), that couscous appeared.
The wheat was ground with a ball shaped stone to obtain a fine semolina. The women then “rolled” the seed before steaming it and eating it with a vegetable stew.
Everyone sat around a large dish and helped themselves with their bare hands.
There are as many couscous recipes as there are regions in the Maghreb (North African countries).
It can be with vegetables, chicken, lamb, beef, dried meat and even fish or seafood (mostly in Tunisia).
For example, in Algiers it is flavored with orange blossom, in Tunisia with dried rose blossom steaming with it. The dish has also usually a spicier sauce.
In Morocco, candied onions, cinnamon, raisins and honey are added, and in Mauritania, the recipe differs by the cereals used for the grain (wheat, barley and millet) but also by the use, for example, of camel meat.
In Tunisia and Algeria we also eat couscous as a sweet meal, called then « Mesfouf », where the semolina is mixed with butter or milk and grapes or pomegranate and/or dried grapes.
It’s mostly eaten as a dessert or before dawn during Ramadan.
When the salty recipe is used, couscous is usually accompanied with a little fermented sheep's milk in order to facilitate the digestion. Fermented milk is known to be as delicious as it is rich in probiotics 😋
Let’s move a bit forward in History…
1- Literary context:
Couscous discreetly crosses the Mediterranean and is found very early at Rabelais or Pierre Loti (French writers).
In 1929, it appears in the “Grand livre de la cuisine” (the great cooking book) and in 1940 in the military cook's manual in which it is explained that, even eaten in large quantities, this dish leaves the soldier fresh and available.
2- Socio-political context:
It was really in 1962 with the independence of Algeria that couscous became popular in Europe. The « black feet » (French diaspora born in North Africa during the French Occupation) bring their recipes in their suitcases.
The French of mainland France discover and love the couscous ! So much that you could hear the singer Enrico Macias singing his passion for couscous into the transistor radios.
The whole country soon sits in a circle in front of this new dish just like the Berber tribes used to do. However they used spoons rather than their hands 😜
So, as you would have understood, couscous therefore crossed the Mediterranean and was exported, then adopted, in several overseas countries including the Iberian Peninsula, Sicily, and even Brazil.
That said, at Mima’s Delights, our purpose is to go back to the sources and introduce you to this dish - rich in nutrients and history - in it’s original version, according to ancestral recipes which have proven themselves and made it so famous.
Voilà ! 😁
