Spanish Influence on Northern Moroccan Food

The protectorate and the enclaves

From 1912 to 1956, while France governed most of Morocco, Spain administered a protectorate over the north — the Rif and the cities of Tetouan, Tangier's hinterland and beyond — as well as a zone in the far south. For over four decades, Spanish administration, settlers, soldiers and traders lived in the northern cities, and their food habits mingled with local ones. Spain also retains to this day the enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla on the Moroccan coast, points of continuous contact and exchange.

This sustained presence, layered on top of the older Andalusi heritage — the legacy of the Muslims and Jews expelled from Spain who settled in Tetouan, Fes and elsewhere — made the north of Morocco the most Spanish-influenced part of the country, in its food as in its language, architecture and daily rhythms.

Fried fish, tapas and eggs

The clearest Spanish culinary echoes are on the plate. Fried fish in the Andalusian style — lightly floured and quickly fried, the pescaíto frito of southern Spain — is beloved along the northern Moroccan coast. Small savoury dishes eaten in the manner of tapas, egg preparations reminiscent of the Spanish tortilla, and certain fritters and croquette-like items all show the influence of the northern shore of the strait.

Chickpea-flour preparations, fried snacks, and Spanish loanwords for foods and cooking further mark the northern kitchen. None of this displaced Moroccan cooking — tagines, couscous and mint tea remain central — but it added a distinct Iberian layer that sets the north apart from the rest of the country.

• Fried fish: floured and quickly fried, echoing Andalusian pescaíto frito.
• Tapas-style dishes: small savoury plates eaten in the Spanish manner.
• Egg dishes: preparations reminiscent of the Spanish tortilla.
• Loanwords and snacks: Spanish terms and fried items in the northern kitchen.

Café con leche and the northern habit

Perhaps the most pervasive Spanish legacy is not a dish but a habit: coffee. The café culture of northern Morocco, with its milky coffee, its pastries and its unhurried sociability, owes much to Spanish custom. While mint tea remains the national drink everywhere, the north drinks coffee with particular enthusiasm, and the café — as a place to sit, talk and watch the street — is a strongly rooted northern institution shaped by the Spanish and, in Tangier, the wider European presence.

For the broader northern food culture this belongs to, see food traditions of Tangier and the north; for the deeper Iberian roots, see Andalusian influence on Moroccan food; and for coffee, see the history of Moroccan coffee culture.