Experience Morocco: Visit a Souq and Cook a Tagine in Marrakech

What better place to learn how to cook Moroccan food than Marrakech? Learn some Arabic phrases from your expert guide and practice them while shopping at a souq, or open-air market, for fresh local ingredients. Follow your guide’s instructions to make a classic Moroccan dish such as a tagine, a stew of meat and vegetables named after the earthenware pot in which it's cooked. Savor the fruits of your labor during a luncheon with fellow foodies at a riad, a traditional Moroccan house with an interior courtyard.

This small-group tour is limited to 12 people for a more intimate experience.

After meeting your guide in Djemaa El Fna in central Marrakech, you will head to a riad in the medina -- an ancient part of town -- to begin your Moroccan food experience.

Learn some Arabic words for the ingredients you’ll need before going to a souq to shop for meat, vegetables and – most importantly – spices. Seek out native ingredients such as saffron from Taliouine, olives and mint from Meknes and citrus fruits from Fez.

Then, return to the riad and roll up your sleeves to begin your hands-on cooking class. Under your guide’s direction, make a traditional Moroccan dish such as a tagine or the similar tangia; couscous, steamed semolina with meat or vegetables; pastila, a dessert made of apples; or harira, a hearty soup often eaten with dates.

After the cooking's done, it's time to feast! For lunch, savor the authentic Moroccan meal you helped make in the tranquil atmosphere of your riad. Take home a recipe sheet so you can use your new-found knowledge of Moroccan cooking to impress your family and friends.

Following your 4-hour culinary experience, go to Djemaa El Fna, where you can shop for spices to bring home and continue to immerse yourself in the heady sights and sounds of Marrakech.

• Lunch
• Recipe sheet

• Gratuities (optional)
• Hotel pickup and drop-off