Marrakech Vegetarian Cooking Class - Morocco's Meat-Free Table

Vegetarians sometimes worry Moroccan food means meat tagines, but the opposite is true - the everyday table is built on vegetables, pulses and bread, and the cooked salads and vegetable dishes are some of the finest in the cuisine. This Marrakech class, in a Medina riad kitchen, celebrates that meat-free richness, so plant-based cooks eat like royalty rather than settling for a side dish.

You cook a spread of the great Moroccan vegetable dishes: a seven-vegetable couscous steamed the traditional way; a vegetable tagine layered with squash, carrots, courgette and chickpeas; smoky zaalouk of aubergine and tomato; taktouka of peppers; and loubia, the slow-simmered white beans in tomato. Along the way you learn the spice work - how cumin, ginger, paprika and preserved lemon build depth without meat - and make fresh khobz bread to scoop it all up.

The host shows how easily the Moroccan pantry goes vegan too - olive and argan oil instead of butter, no reliance on dairy - and how to shop the souks for the freshest produce. It is a hands-on, generous class that ends with a full plant-based Moroccan feast eaten together, and it leaves committed vegetarians and the meat-curious alike with a repertoire of dishes to cook at home. Vegans and allergy needs are easily accommodated with notice.