Type | Bread |
---|---|
Place of origin | Algeria |
Region or state | Algeria and France |
Main ingredients | Eggs, fine white flour, water, yeast, sugar, anise, orange zest or juice, lemon zest of juice, sesame seeds, confectioner's sugar and salt |
Mouna, also known as Mona [1] is an Algerian orange scented brioche that is indigenous to the city of Oran. It has a sweet taste enriched with oil and eggs and often contains anise, sesame, orange or other citrus. The Pieds noirs, who introduced it into France in the 1960s, tend to eat it at Easter.
The Mouna, or Mona, being similar to the Spanish Mona de Pascua, led to some claims that this brioche was brought by the Valencians to Oran.
Another hypothesis relates the name of the brioche to that of the fort built by the first Spanish governor, Don Diego, Marquis de Comarez, at the very place of the landing; this fort was called Castillo de la Mona (Guenon castle, which became Fort de la Moune, then Fort Lamoune), because, it is said, the entirely wooded place was inhabited by bands of monkeys (mona in Spanish). [2] For the feast of Easter, the families would have passed cakes to the prisoners of the fort, stuck on long poles, which would have taken the name of the place.
A third hypothesis suggests that Mouna was named after Fort Lamoune because the people of Oran used to go for a picnic near this it, at Easter. [2]
Henri Chemouilli, for his part, relates mouna to mimouna, probably from the Arabic imoun ("happy"), which is the name of the last day of the Jewish Passover. [3]
According to André Lanly, mouna comes from the Valencian mona, which derives from the Latin adjective munda in the expression munda annona, which designated luxury bread in the Roman army. In popular Algerian language, mouna also refers to a blow to the cheek (to put a mouna on someone). [4]
For Pierre Mannoni, whatever the form of the mouna, the important thing lies in the tradition of the picnic where it is eaten and that this custom, which is found everywhere in Algeria, constitutes a celebration. of spring, a "rite more pagan than Christian no doubt". [5] He joined Joëlle Hureau for whom "to do the mouna is to sacrifice to a rite". [6]
It is a leavened dough made of flour, water, milk and baker's yeast, to which oil, orange juice and zest (or orange blossom) is added. The dough is made into a ball which is brushed with egg yolk beaten with a little milk and the top of which is covered with pieces of crushed sugar. It is then placed on a large sheet metal tray, are then baked in the oven. [7] [8]
The Organisation armée secrète was a far-right French dissident paramilitary and terrorist organisation during the Algerian War. The OAS carried out terrorist attacks, including bombings and assassinations, in an attempt to prevent Algeria's independence from French colonial rule. Its motto was L’Algérie est française et le restera.
The Algerian War was a major armed conflict between France and the Algerian National Liberation Front (FLN) from 1954 to 1962, which led to Algeria winning its independence from France. An important decolonization war, it was a complex conflict characterized by guerrilla warfare and war crimes. The conflict also became a civil war between the different communities and within the communities. The war took place mainly on the territory of Algeria, with repercussions in metropolitan France.
Oran is a major coastal city located in the northwest of Algeria. It is considered the second most important city of Algeria, after the capital, Algiers, because of its population and commercial, industrial and cultural importance. It is 432 km (268 mi) west-southwest from Algiers. The total population of the city was 803,329 in 2008, while the metropolitan area has a population of approximately 1,500,000, making it the second-largest city in Algeria.
French Algeria, also known as Colonial Algeria, was the period of Algerian history when the country was a colony and later an integral part of France.
Brioche is a bread of French origin whose high egg and butter content gives it a rich and tender crumb. The chef Joël Robuchon described it as "light and slightly puffy, more or less fine, according to the proportion of butter and eggs". It has a dark, golden, and flaky crust, frequently accentuated by an egg wash applied after proofing.
The pieds-noirs are people of French and other European descent who were born in Algeria during the period of French rule from 1830 to 1962. Many of them departed for mainland France during and after the war by which Algeria gained its independence in 1962.
Emmanuel Roblès was a French author and playwright. He was elected a member of the Académie Goncourt in 1973. He was one of many influential "pied-noir" of his time. The literary award Prix Emmanuel Roblès has been established in his honour in 1990.
Oran Province is a province (wilayah) in Algeria whose seat is the city of the same name.
Pierre Nora is a French historian elected to the Académie Française on 7 June 2001. He is known for his work on French identity and memory. His name is associated with the study of new history. He is the brother of the late Simon Nora, a former senior French administrative professional. He is the uncle of Olivier Nora, the president and publisher of the French publishing house Editions Grasset.
The Oran massacre of 1962 was the mass killing of Pied-Noir and European expatriates living in Algeria. It took place in Oran beginning on the date of Algerian independence, and ended on 7 July 1962. Estimates of the casualties vary from a low of 95 to 365 deaths in a report by a group of historians sent to the French government in 2006, and have been utilised by right-wing parties.
Elements from the French Armed Forces used deliberate torture during the Algerian War (1954–1962), creating an ongoing public controversy. Pierre Vidal-Naquet, a renowned French historian, estimated that there were "hundreds of thousands of instances of torture" by the French military in Algeria.
The Battle of Philippeville, also known as the Philippeville massacre or the August Offensive was a series of raids launched on 20 August 1955 on various cities and towns of the Constantine region by FLN insurgents and armed mobs during the Algerian War between France and Algerian rebels. The raids, which mostly took the form of ethnic riots, resulted in the massacre of several dozens of European settlers known as Pieds-Noirs. These massacres were then followed by reprisals by the French army and Pieds-Noirs vigilantes, which resulted in the death of several thousand Muslim Algerians. The events of late August 1955 in the Constantinois region are considered to be a major turning point of the Algerian War.
The Algerian Basketball Championship, now called the Super Division and formally known as the ABC Super Division, is the pre-eminent men's basketball league in Algeria. National 1 is contested by 16 teams, with the two lowest-placed teams relegated to the Second Division and replaced by the two playoff winners. From 1963 onwards, MC Alger and WA Boufarik both dominated. Darak El-Watani won 11 titles but no longer exists.
The Battle of Bab el Oued was a violent confrontation which occurred during the latter stages of the Algerian War (1954–1962) between the French Army and the Organisation armée secrète (OAS) which opposed Algerian independence. It took place in Bab El Oued, then a working-class European quarter of Algiers, from 23 March to 6 April 1962.
In the 1962–63 season, USM Alger is competing in the Championnat National for the 1st season, as well as the Algerian Cup. They will be competing in Championnat National, and the Algerian Cup.
The villa Sésini is a torture center established in El Biar during the Algerian war in the city of Algiers.
Soldiers of the Algerian Opposition was a French-based Algerian paramilitary organization active during the 1970s.
The Oran Expedition in 1707 was a military operation led by Moulay Ismail ibn Sharif in which he attempted to extend Moroccan rule into western Algeria. The battle ended in a Moroccan defeat, and the site of the battle was named after the defeated Moroccan king, Moulay Ismail.
Patuet is the dialect of the Catalan language that was spoken in the Maghreb, mainly in Algeria, during the French administration. Mainly of Menorca, Alicante and Roussillon origin, it was characterized by French and Arabic influences and, in turn, influenced the French slang of the Pieds-Noirs. After the Pieds-Noirs exodus that followed the independence of Algeria, in 1962, most of the population was dispersed throughout France (majority), Roussillon and a minority in the province of Alicante, Spain. The Fort-de-l'Eau Neighborhood Association holds an annual meeting of Algerians of Menorcan descent in the Provencal commune of L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue. In 2001, some participants in the event still spoke Patuet.
Lham hlou. also known as lham lahlou and tajine lahlou. which means "sweet meat" or "sweet tajne", is an Algerian sweet dish made with meat and mainly prunes, possibly with apricots and decorated with raisins and almonds in a syrup of sugar and orange blossom water. Apples are usually used as well. The meat and vegetables are first sauteed with onions and smen. This dish is served as a starter or as a dessert during Ramadan and on the occasion of wedding celebrations.