A Moroccan cookery school:-

Morocco is famous for it's cuisine which is an interesting blend of African and French styles of cooking. During my trip research I stumbled upon Faim d'epices which was a cookery school based in the Moroccan countryside, it had rave reviews and I knew we had to give it a go.

We were picked up from our hotel at about 9:30am and transported with fellow budding cooks to a beautiful house in the middle of the countryside. We were greeted with some traditional mint tea and were immediately made to feel welcome as we relaxed in the lounge area with our host and other guests.

The first part of our course was a spice masterclass in which we were blindfolded and had to smell various spices and try and guess what they were. This was followed by lots of interesting facts and stories about various Moroccan spices such as how to tell if you're buying real saffron and argon oil and which spices blend well together. This was a fun and very interesting ice breaker to the day which I think my husband enjoyed more than me due to the fact that he guessed most of the spices correctly (unlike me).

The rest of the day consisted of us cooking at our workstations and various demonstrations throughout the day. The chef that was leading the course was helpful, patient and highly skilled. With her help we made our own fish tagine and our own Moroccan flat bread and we watched demo's and helped to make Moroccan salads and crepes.

At the end of our hard work we were rewarded with a Moroccan feast and a lovely dining area was set up for us to try all of the food we'd made throughout the day. I was surprised at how delicious and authentic the food was and it was all made by me! Our fish tagine melted in our mouth and the salads were so different to the usual lettuce and tomato you would expect in the UK (grated cucumber with fresh orange juice was my favourite).

Our host really went the extra mile to make our day special. He was interested in hearing about our travels, provided welcome refreshments throughout the day and at the end of our day gave us a certificate, a scroll full of Moroccan recipes and a selection of the spices we'd used to take home. He also emailed us some photographs that he'd taken throughout the day.
We bought a tagine from the gift shop for about £7 and are eager to see if we can re-create our recipes at home.

If ever you are in Morocco, Faim d'epices is a really interesting way to spend your day and is a much needed respite from the heat and intensity of Marrakech. At 50euro per person including transport, lunch and refreshments it is amazing value. You will learn a lot about the Moroccan culture, make new friends and hopefully brush up on your kitchen skills and learn a few trips.