We love Morocco and when we’re in Europe, visit as often as we can because it’s only a quick flight away. We find Marrakech to be a family-friendly city and have done a number of unique activities with the kids like learning to cure olives, and going to a pottery workshop. The best thing we’ve done so far is getting a food tour of Jemaa el Fna. This post is for anyone who’s visiting Morocco with kids, in particular Marrakech and wants to know how to explore the market of Jemaa El Fna Marrakech with kids. Read the post to find out our kid-friendly experience exploring Jemaa El Fna night market during the day.
A Day in the Night Market?
That doesn’t make sense, I know.
But if you’re
1) a foodie,
2) a world traveller
you would know that Marrakech is home to one of the world’s most exotic Night Markets – Jemaa El Fna (Djemaa El Fna), and we had no intentions of missing this opportunity and so decided to pay it a visit…but in the day with our kids.
Before we get started about our foodie experience through Marrakech’s Jemaa El Fna, here’s some recommend Morocco reading that we did prior to our very first trip:
How to Explore Jemaa El Fna with Kids
We google’d several food tour companies in the city since we wanted to have a true “foodie” experience, and with kids that can be difficult. Through our travels we’ve discovered that some tour companies aren’t kid-friendly (check out our list of kid-friendly food tours here).
Thankfully, we found Marrkech Food Tours, owned and operated by Youssef and Amanda who relocated to Morocco from the US. Their desire to seek out the best street food in the city and the their flexibility with regards to organizing our tour made it easy for us to choose them to be our guides.
We met Youssef and Amanda at the Jemaa El Fna Post Office and it immediately felt like we knew each other for years. Amanda was kind enough to arrange for her son to join us so our kids could “hangout” together. As we made our introductions and mentally prepared for our 3 hour walking tour, Amanda proceeded to tell us, as we slowly wandered through the winding souks and crowds of people about Morocco’s traditional meals, their food culture, and a bit of history about the area.
PSA: Here’s a few other foodie things to do in Marrakech
The Kid-Friendly Jemaa El Fna Tour
We passed by a section of the market selling fresh fruit and vegetables…we stopped to buy some oranges. They were fresh and oh, so sweet! There was a new surprise waiting behind each corner; kids selling hay in the souk walkways. It wasn’t long before we started to smell deliciousness nearby.
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Unaware of exactly which way we were about to turn as we walked in and out of small busy alley ways, Youssef eventually lead us into a little hidden restaurant that apparently served the best tajine and couscous in the souk.
He wasn’t lying either!
There was a sweetness in the tajine dish that just lingered and as we ate it up with our bare hands, I couldn’t help but find myself wanting more after we left.
We were offered Moroccan tea at the end which Youssef did one hell of a job pouring!
What to Buy at Jemaa El Fna
As we continued our tour through the souk, we walked passed many colorful shops filled with fabrics, clothing, souvenirs and shoes. Lou Lou’s slippers eventually gave way and we ended up getting her a pair of Moroccan slippers.
And then there’s that smell that everyone loves…
the smell of fresh baked bread.
Now, my hubby is a bread enthusiast which means my son had picked up this gene from his side of the family. It wasn’t long before he was sniffing his way into a local bakery, clearly ignoring our cries to come back.
Thankfully, the owner of the shop was very welcoming and even allowed us to walk through his bakery to see how the local breads were made. We were told that this bakery sold over 4,000 pieces of bread a day, impressive for a 2×2 meter shop.
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As we tried to quickly whisk our child away from overturning the bread stand, they were kind enough to hand him a piece of bread. He was all smiles!
Lou Lou, my fashionista of course wanted to wear a head scarf, “just like the one Amanda is wearing, Mommy.” Amanda was great and kindly made a quick detour so she could try on some scarves.
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Six scarves later an eager Jaf was ready to go, so we headed towards our next food encounter.
Tasting Tangia and Mechwi
If you could see the faces of the kids as we walked past goat feet and goat heads you would just giggle. I could tell we were in for something interesting as soon as we walked up to this shop.
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Tangia, a traditional dish from Marrakech is very slow cooked lamb. Found only in this city, the lamb is placed in little jars and then baked in traditional underground ovens.
It has been made this way for hundreds of years.
After our brief tour of the kitchen we are taken upstairs to a quaint little dining area that overlooked the market. The first thing to appear on our table was a little bowl filled with mixture of salt and cumin. Cumin is a “must have” spice in all Moroccan dishes. But this is the first time we’ve seen it served as a “dipping” salt which we used once our slow cooked lamb arrived.
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Tangia is the name of the cooking pot used to make this fine lamb stew. We had our Lamb Tangia served with Moroccan bread (khobz).
Mechwi or Mechoui is popular in North Africa and is made by spit-roasting lamb over a fire or in a pit in the ground. The roasted lamb literally melts in your mouth, and must be eaten by dipping the lamb in the cumin salt!
Once the lamb arrived, hubby and I dug right in.
Both the tangia and the mechwi were tender and just melted in your mouth. Add in the cumin salt and freshly baked bread and we were in heaven!
“Mom, is this the sheep head we just saw outside?”
The kids, however, were a bit cautious though. With a little push from Amanda’s son, they were both up to trying that tangia.
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Full and content we lingered longer at this restaurant than expected.
Youssef and Amanda openly shared their experiences living in Morocco with their two children and how it was important for their children to learn another language. We loved hearing their stories and could have stayed there for awhile learning more about them and their wonderful city but the kids wanted dessert, so we headed to our next location.
Where to Find Dessert at Jemaa El Fna
Moroccans are known to have a sweet tooth, which we discovered on our first visit to Morocco. We noticed that there is a heavy French influence with many patisserie’s around the city serving cakes and sweets.
We got to sample a few desserts popular in Marrakech at Patesserie Des Princes which included chebakia (a sesame spice cookie) and different types of tartlets. All this was served with wonderful Moroccan tea.
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As our eating frenzy came to a close we said our goodbyes and exchanged numbers. There was not enough time in the day to get to know our new friends and so we agreed to meet up later.
Not only did we get to sample the best cuisines from the city of Marrakech, we also ended up making lifelong friends and can’t wait to see them again.
As the sun began to set and as we walked to our car we began to see the “real” market come to life.
What goes on at night here?!!
We knew we’d have to come back again to find out.
And soon…
Wondering where to stay in Marrakech? Take a look at some kid-friendly properties here
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