Tunisian Cuisine

If you’re off on some Tunisia holidays this year, chances are you’ll have the time to sample a wide range of what the restaurants have to offer. Tunisia’s culinary character is a blend of traditional Mediterranean and desert dwellers’ cuisine with infusions from the large number of civilisations which have ruled over Tunisia, which includes the Phoenicians, Romans, Byzantines, Vandals, Turks, Spanish and French. This cuisine has been influenced to a significant extent by Spanish gastronomy, to which it owes the extensive use of chillies, sweet peppers and egg-based cookery. The unusual mixture of influences turns this food into a unique version of the typical Mediterranean ‘sun cuisine’, in which the chefs use the usual Mediterranean ingredients to create a menu which is discernibly Tunisian.

Insofar as it resembles Mediterranean food, it’s fairly spicy and is based on olive oil, spices, tomatoes, seafood and meat, resulting in it differing from the cuisine in other North African countries. The herbs and spices used here differs according to region, but common ones are cinnamon and dried and crushed rosebuds. Many popular dishes in Tunisia originate from the utensils used by the ancient nomad desert tribes, such as a ‘tagine’ which is a pot with a conical lid. This tagine also forms the basis for the cooking method for the national dish of couscous. Condiments and ingredients which feature strongly in Tunisian food include harissa (a hot red pepper sauce), eggs, olives, game, squid, figs, dates and a wide range of fish and vegetables.

Before the Tunisians eat a main course, they eat from a variety of different small and appetizing dishes, which are called ‘kemia’ and are very similar to the meze found in Turkey, Greece and Lebanon. These kemia take the place of bread and starters found commonly in other European countries and include tiny octopus, clams, pimentos, nuts, olives, murguez and tuna with the harissa sauce as a dip. One of the most famous is the ‘brik a l’oeuf’ which is made by wrapping tuna, herbs and an egg in a triangular shaped pasty and frying it in oil.

The national dish of couscous can include a changeable variety of meats, fish, game and vegetables and is cooked in a special type of double broiler called a kiska, which resembles a Chinese steamer atop a Mongolian pot. Classic Tunisian couscous includes shallots, peppers, onions, garlic, potatoes, tomatoes, chick peas, harissa and a range of other spices and vegetables. If you love soup, try the popular Lablabi, whose primary ingredients consist of chickpeas and garlic. Another original dish is felfel mahchi, which is made by stuffing sweet peppers with meat (usually lamb) and covering them in harissa sauce. Wheat is a staple in this country, and no meal would be complete without freshly baked bread.

This cuisine has also come up with many variations on preparing staples such as pasta. For example, noicer pasta consists of very thin and small squares of pasta which have been made from semolina and flavoured with Tunisian bharat, which is a combination of cinnamon and dried rosebuds. Murguez is a red and spicy sausage originating from north Africa and popular in many northern European countries. It is made from lamb, beef and a wide range of spices, such as sumac, paprika, cayenne pepper and harissa. Sun-dried murguez is often used in tagines (a tagine can describe any dish cooked in this type of pot) or with couscous.

The Tunisians greatly appreciate all things sweet, and have arranged everyday ingredients into fantastic desserts with a distinctly Tunisian flavour. The style and substance of many of their desserts almost resembles those in the Middle East, particularly in the cases where pastry, almonds and sesame seeds are used (in baklava). Popular examples of sweets include yo-yos, which are sumptuous donuts which have been made with orange juice, deep fried then dipped in honey, and makroudh, which is a semolina cake stuffed with dates, cinnamon and orange peel. For something else truly original, try a mhalbiya, which is a cake made with rice, nuts and geranium water.

All these dishes and more means that anyone heading out on some Tunisia holidays is in for a treat, especially if the meal is topped off with a Tunisian wine. As the style resembles that of other Mediterranean countries cuisine to a fair extent while still adding something new to the table, this food has something to please both those who like to stick to familiar dishes as well as the adventurous.