Couscous is a traditional North African dish of small steamed granules of rolled semolina that is often served with a stew spooned on top. Pearl millet, sorghum, bulgur, and other cereals are sometimes cooked in a similar way in other regions, and the resulting dishes are also sometimes called couscous.
Moroccan cuisine is the cuisine of Morocco, fueled by interactions and exchanges with many cultures and nations over the centuries. Moroccan cuisine is usually a mix of Arab, Berber, Andalusi, and Mediterranean cuisines, with minimal European and sub-Saharan influences. Like the rest of the Maghrebi cuisine, Moroccan cuisine has more in common with Middle Eastern cuisine than with the rest of Africa.
Pizza is a traditional Italian dish typically consisting of a flat base of leavened wheat-based dough topped with tomato, cheese, and other ingredients, baked at a high temperature, traditionally in a wood-fired oven.
Pita or pitta is a family of yeast-leavened round flatbreads baked from wheat flour, common in the Mediterranean, Levant, and neighboring areas. It includes the widely known version with an interior pocket, also known as Arabic bread. In the United Kingdom, Greek bread is used for pocket versions such as the Greek pita, and are used for barbecues as a souvlaki wrap. The Western name pita may sometimes be used to refer to various other types of flatbreads that have different names in their local languages, such as numerous styles of Arab khubz (bread).
Beignet is a type of deep-fried pastry of French origin. It is commonly made from pâte à choux, but can also be made using rice flour or yeast-leavened batters. Beignets can be served in a variety of preparations, the most common being dusted with confectioner’s sugar. The pastry is popular in French, Italian, and American cuisines.
Naan is a leavened, oven-baked or tawa-fried flatbread. It is characterized by its light and slightly fluffy texture and golden-brown spots from the baking process. Naan is found in the cuisines mainly of Iran, Afghanistan, Central Asia, the Indian subcontinent, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, and the Caribbean.
Ouarzazate, nicknamed the door of the desert, is a city and capital of Ouarzazate Province in the region of Drâa-Tafilalet, south-central Morocco.
Gordon James Ramsay is a British celebrity chef, restaurateur, television presenter, and writer. His restaurant group, Gordon Ramsay Restaurants, was founded in 1997 and has been awarded 17 Michelin stars overall and currently holds eight. His signature restaurant, Restaurant Gordon Ramsay in Chelsea, London, has held three Michelin stars since 2001. After rising to fame on the British television miniseries Boiling Point in 1999, Ramsay became one of the best-known and most influential chefs in the world.
Iraqi cuisine is a Middle Eastern cuisine that has its origins in the ancient Near East culture of the fertile crescent. Tablets found in ancient ruins in Iraq show recipes prepared in the temples during religious festivals—the first cookbooks in the world. Ancient Mesopotamia was home to a sophisticated and highly advanced civilization, in all fields of knowledge, including the culinary arts.
A flatbread is bread made usually with flour; water, milk, yogurt, or other liquid; and salt, and then thoroughly rolled into flattened dough. Many flatbreads are unleavened, although some are leavened, such as pita bread.
The World Pizza Championship is an event held annually for three days in April since 1991 in Salsomaggiore Terme (Parma), Italy, although several other cities likewise claim to be the home of the ultimate international pizza games including Naples and Paris. Organized by Pizza E Pasta Italiana magazine, the 30th edition of the competition was held from April 18-20, 2023. More than 700 chefs from 52 countries compete in 12 categories. The World Pizza Championship includes six categories in the baking competition, three categories in the pizza game competition, the pizza team award, the Heinz Beck trophy awarded to pizzeria chefs, and the triathlon award given for the highest average score in 3 separate categories. All culinary scores are figured from 800 as perfect, with each contestant rated by cooking prowess, sanitation, presentation, taste, and knowledge of the pizza. It is the largest pizza show in the world with over 6,500 independent chain and franchise owners from all around the world attending. The winners are inducted into their Hall of Fame and are sometimes invited back to judge the next World Pizza Championship.
Lahmacun, Lahmajun, or Lahmadjo, is a Middle Eastern flatbread topped with minced meat, minced vegetables, and herbs including onions, garlic, tomatoes, red peppers, and parsley, flavored with spices such as chili pepper and paprika, then baked. Lahmacun is often wrapped around vegetables, including pickles, tomatoes, peppers, onions, lettuce, parsley, and roasted eggplant.
Cong you bing (cōngyóubǐng), also known as scallion pancake or "green onion pancake", is a Chinese savory, unleavened flatbread folded with oil and minced scallions. Unlike Western pancakes, it is made from dough instead of batter. It is pan-fried, which gives it crisp edges and a chewy texture. Many layers make up the interior, contributing to its chewy texture. Variations exist on the basic method of preparation that incorporate other flavors and fillings.
Pissaladière is a dish of flatbread with toppings from the region of Provence and the French city of Nice. It is often compared to pizza. The dough is usually a bread dough thicker than that of the classic pizza Margherita, and the traditional topping in Nice usually consists of caramelised onions, black olives and anchovies.
The Berber cuisine, though lacking a singular and standardized culinary framework, encompasses a diverse range of traditional dishes and influenced by the numerous flavours from distinct regions across North Africa. There is no consistent Berber cuisine, and it has been exposed to various influences. Berbers' meal choices were shaped by local availability of foods and personal finances. Berbers follow the same dietary laws and hygiene requirements as other Muslims. Ken Albala noted that "Describing meals as typically Berber is impossible–at best, they are samples of what is eaten in different regions by Berber families".
Mizrahi Jewish cuisine is an assortment of cooking traditions that developed among the Mizrahi Jewish communities of the Middle East, North Africa and Central Asia. Influenced by the diverse local culinary practices of countries such as Morocco, Libya, Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Yemen, and Syria, Mizrahi cuisine prominently features rice, legumes, meats, and an array of spices such as cumin, turmeric, and coriander. Signature dishes include kubbeh (dumplings), pilafs, grilled meats, and stews like hamin.
Chakhchoukha or chekhechoukha is a traditional Algerian dish made from torn or rolled pieces of cooked semolina dough that are served in a flavorful tomato-based sauce. The dish consists of small pieces of rougag mixed with marqa, a tomato stew. The dish is typically made by boiling the semolina dough in salted water until it is cooked and then rolling it into small balls or tearing it into bite-sized pieces.
Msemmen or rghaif (رغايف), is a traditional flatbread originally from the Maghreb, commonly found in Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia. It is folded into square pancakes with multiple internal layers and cooked on a griddle, usually served with honey or a cup of aromatic morning mint tea or coffee. M'semmen can also be stuffed with meat (khlea) or onion and tomatoes. The small msemmen pancakes are of Berber origin.
The cuisine of Mauritania includes the culinary practices of Mauritania. Historically, what is now Mauritania has been influenced by Arab, Berbers and African peoples who have lived in and traversed the "stark" landscape marked with Sahara desert dunes in caravans. There is an overlap with Moroccan cuisine in the north and Senegalese cuisine in the south.
Harcha is a griddle- or pan-cooked semolina flatbread native to the Middle Atlas in Morocco, and also found in Algeria.
