0:00
Meet at the riad or a medina gate
We meet you at your riad or at a gate such as Bab Boujloud, over a glass of mint tea, and agree the menu and any dietary needs before anyone buys anything.
Fes, Morocco· Concierge · Mon–Sat · 09:00–18:00 GMT+1
Riad cooking class with a souk visit
Shop the Fes el-Bali food souks with your cook, then cook a full Fassi lunch in a riad kitchen: zaalouk, taktouka, a preserved-lemon chicken tagine, khobz and mint tea. The class runs about 4–5 hours. It suits a first cooking class in Morocco, couples, and families with children old enough to chop.
- Private or small-group
- Menu agreed with you
- Recipes to take home
What the class is like
This is the class most people picture when they think of cooking in Fes, and the one we suggest if you only have room for one. It starts outside the kitchen. Your cook takes you into the produce and spice lanes of Fes el-Bali to buy the day's vegetables, herbs, olives, preserved lemons and spices, explaining what a Fassi cook looks for at each stall.
Back in the riad you cook a proper lunch together: Moroccan salads, a slow tagine, bread, and mint tea to finish. The menu is fixed with you in advance, then adjusted to what looked best in the market that morning.
Best for: A first cooking class in Morocco; Travellers who want to see the food souks with someone who shops there; Couples and families with children old enough to chop.
- How long
- About 4–5 hours
- Where
- The food souks of Fes el-Bali, then a riad kitchen inside the medina
- Diets
- Vegetarian, Vegan, Gluten-free on request
- 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
Souk shopping in Fes el-Bali
Around an hour in the food lanes: vegetables and herbs, olives and preserved lemons, and a spice stall where you smell cumin, sweet paprika, ginger, turmeric and ras el hanout side by side. You choose and pay the stallholders with your cook.
1:15
Into the kitchen: salads and marinade
Wash, chop and start the cooked salads, which take longest to reduce. Build a chermoula of herbs, garlic, spices and oil for the tagine.
2:00
Layer the tagine and knead bread
Layer the tagine so the base caramelises without burning, set it on a low flame, then knead khobz dough. If the neighbourhood oven is open, the loaves go to the ferran.
3:00
Mint tea, the proper way
While the tagine finishes, learn the rinse, steep and high pour of Moroccan mint tea.
3:30
Lunch on the terrace or in the courtyard
Sit down to everything you cooked. You get the recipes afterwards, written for a home kitchen.
What you cook
Zaalouk
A cooked salad of aubergine and tomato, slow-reduced with garlic, cumin and sweet paprika, finished with olive oil and coriander. Eaten warm or cold with bread.
Taktouka
Roasted green peppers and tomatoes cooked down with garlic and spices into a soft, smoky salad.
djaj mqualli
Chicken tagine with preserved lemon and olives
Chicken cooked slowly with onion, ginger, saffron and turmeric until the sauce turns golden and thick, finished with preserved lemon and green olives. One of the defining dishes of Fes home cooking.
khobz
Moroccan bread
The round everyday loaf of semolina and flour, eaten at every meal and used instead of cutlery to scoop salads and sauce.
atay
Mint tea
Gunpowder green tea brewed with fresh spearmint and sugar, poured from height to raise a foam.
Private or small-group
Private
Just your party with your cook and a guide in the souk. You choose the menu, the start time (morning for lunch, afternoon for dinner) and the pace.
Small-group
You share the kitchen with a few other travellers on a set menu. The flow is the same, with more people at the table.
Dietary needs
The menu is agreed before the market, so a vegetarian or vegan version is easy: the chicken tagine becomes a vegetable or chickpea tagine and everything else is already plant-based. Gluten-free guests can skip the bread step and eat the salads and tagine without it. Tell us about allergies, especially nuts and sesame, which are common in Moroccan cooking.
Good to know
The medina is car-free and the market walk is on foot over uneven lanes. Friday is a quieter market day in parts of the medina; we plan around it. Recipes are given to you afterwards, so you don't need to take notes.
Before you knock
The questions people ask us most before they plan a trip.
How long is a Fes cooking class with a market visit?
Plan on four to five hours: about an hour shopping in the souks, two to three hours cooking, then a sit-down meal of what you made. A private class can start in the morning for lunch or in the afternoon for dinner.
Can the cooking class be private?
Yes. Every class is offered private, for just your party, or as a small group shared with a few other travellers. Ask for a quote with your dates and group size and we'll reply with both options.
Do we really shop in the market ourselves?
Yes. You walk the food lanes with your cook, choose the produce and pay the stallholders together. It's the part most guests remember best.
Is the class suitable for vegetarians?
Yes. Most Moroccan salads are already plant-based and the tagine is easily made with vegetables or chickpeas. We agree the menu with you before the market so nothing is improvised.
Keep cooking
Fassi specialtiesA long, serious class for keen cooks: the celebration dishes Fes is known for, from a sugar-dusted pastilla to honeyed mrouzia, Ramadan harira and rfissa.See the class
Tagine & couscousThe two pillars of Moroccan cooking, done properly: a sweet lamb tagine and a kefta tagine on the fire, and couscous rolled by hand and steamed three times.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: Fes food tour of the medina, The Fes food tour, a guided tasting walk, Moroccan cooking classes: what to expect, Fes souks and shopping.
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.