0:00
Aprons and mint
Wash hands, put on aprons and pick the mint leaves for tea, which children enjoy doing.
Fes, Morocco· Concierge · Mon–Sat · 09:00–18:00 GMT+1
Family cooking class in Fes
A hands-on cooking class for families in a Fes medina riad: children knead msemen, roll kefta for a tagine, shape ghriba cookies and pour mint tea from a height. Parents cook alongside while the cook handles the knives and hot pans. It lasts about 2.5–3 hours and ends with lunch together.
- Private or small-group
- Menu agreed with you
- Recipes to take home
What the class is like
Children get bored watching an adult chop onions. In this class every dish has a step they can do with their hands, and the whole thing is over in under three hours, so it fits between a morning in the medina and an afternoon rest.
The menu is food most children already like: flatbread, meatballs in tomato sauce, a sweet orange salad and cookies. Parents cook alongside, and the cook keeps the knives and the hot pans.
Best for: Families with children from about five years; Teens who like to cook; Multi-generation groups.
- How long
- About 2.5–3 hours
- Where
- A riad kitchen or courtyard in the Fes medina
- Diets
- Vegetarian, Vegan
- Families
- Children welcome
How the class runs
A typical running order. Times are from the start of the class and shift with your group and the season.
0:15
Ghriba cookies
Mix and roll ghriba dough into balls and dip them in sugar. They bake while everything else happens.
0:45
Msemen
Stretch and fold the dough into squares. The cook does the griddle.
1:20
Kefta tagine
Roll spiced meatballs (or vegetable patties) and drop them into the tomato sauce.
1:50
Orange salad and tea
Slice oranges, dust them with cinnamon and practise the high pour of mint tea.
2:15
Lunch together
Everyone sits down to what they made.
What you cook
Kefta tagine
Little meatballs of spiced minced beef simmered in a mild tomato sauce. Eggs can be added at the end. Served with bread.
Msemen
Layered square flatbread folded by hand and cooked on a griddle. Children love the folding.
Orange salad with cinnamon
Sliced oranges sprinkled with cinnamon and sometimes orange-flower water, a common Moroccan dessert.
Ghriba
Soft, crackled cookies rolled in sugar before baking.
Private or small-group
Private
The recommended format with children: just your family, at your pace, timed around naps and the medina.
Small-group
Shared with one or two other families on the same menu.
Dietary needs
The kefta can be swapped for vegetable or chickpea patties for vegetarian and vegan families, and the cookies made without egg. Tell us about nut allergies: we use a nut-free ghriba recipe for any family that needs it.
Good to know
Cooks handle knives, the griddle and the stove; children do the mixing, rolling and shaping. Short and contained: no long market walk, though we can add a short one. High chairs and a quiet corner for younger siblings can be arranged in most riads.
Before you knock
The questions people ask us most before they plan a trip.
What age is the family cooking class for?
It works best for children from about five years old, and teenagers enjoy it too. Younger children are welcome on a private class with a parent helping.
Is the class safe for children?
Yes. The cook handles knives, the griddle and hot pans; children mix, roll, fold and decorate. It runs in a riad kitchen or courtyard, not a commercial kitchen.
Can we do the family class privately?
Yes, and that's what we recommend with children. A small-group version shared with another family is also possible.
Keep cooking
Bread & the ferranKnead khobz, fold msemen and griddle harcha, then carry your loaves through the lanes to the neighbourhood wood-fired oven, the way Fes still bakes.See the class
Pastries & cookiesGazelle horns, chebakia, ghriba and almond briouats: the sweets Fassi families make for weddings, Eid and Ramadan, rolled and shaped by hand.See the class
Mint tea & spicesLearn the Moroccan mint tea ritual properly, then blend your own ras el hanout and chermoula after a visit to a spice stall in the Fes medina.See the classPair it with: Morocco with kids, Fes food tour of the medina.
Send your dates, group and diet. We'll set the menu with you.
- Tell us what drew you in. Your dates, who is travelling and what you want to see.
- A person reads it. We write a day-by-day plan for your group, private or small-group.
- You change anything. Then we confirm the guides, drivers and riads.