Tunisian cuisine. What is served in hotels in Tunisia What to try in Tunisia from food

That's where the expanse for a gastro-tourist is in Tunisia! Here you will have tears in your eyes and spicy Arabic harissa, and gourmet French foie gras, and a whole lamb baked in Tunisian style, and an American sandwich, and a strange-tasting buza, and ... stop! And let's talk about everything in order!

For a curious tourist, food is another way to get to know the country, an additional channel of penetration into the culture, history, customs and customs of the people. And in Tunisia, a real feast of knowledge awaits a gastronomic tourist, because during the existence of these lands, Turks, Arabs, Spaniards, and French have walked here ... And each nation has contributed to the local cuisine, which, by the way, is already was good. Today, Tunisian cuisine is a mix of spicy oriental cuisine and sophisticated European cuisine, in which a gourmet tourist can find a dish to his taste.

National cuisine of Tunisia

"Food drunk with the sun" - this is what the Tunisians themselves say about their food. And there is something in this, because in Tunisia there are 320 sunny days a year, and the beach season lasts from April to November! Tunisians do not have special eating rituals, as, say, in Japan. The inhabitants of Tunisia love to eat well, while it is not customary for them to eat standing up or on the go. For them, food is a way to get enough, to enjoy the taste of simple and natural dishes.

Almost all dishes in Tunisia are prepared from natural products - mainly from those grown in the country. Most often it is something like a stew - meat, vegetables, olives, sauces and spicy seasonings.

The French protectorate slightly “muted” the sharpness of Arabic cuisine, adding dishes “neutral” in terms of spices to it and expanding the choice of European dishes that are more familiar to us - for example, all kinds of pasta, paella... If you ask a Tunisian what is his favorite dish - with a probability of 90% he will say that the second favorite is pasta. The first, of course, couscous!

Yes, if you want to taste true Tunisian cuisine, then you should definitely try it couscous- a dish of millet groats with all kinds of additions (meat, vegetables, spices and herbs). There are more than 50 types of couscous in Tunisia, and at the same time, every housewife is sure that it is she who cooks according to the right recipe and that her couscous is the most delicious.

By the way, local spices and herbs are valued all over the world - tourists not only enjoy their taste in dishes, but also bring them as a souvenir from Tunisia. If you want to feel the power of Tunisian spices for yourself, try harissa- a very spicy sauce, which is prepared from the spice of the same name. It is served in cafes and restaurants along with cheese, salad "interfering" and olive oil and, as a rule, is soaked with bread - pita bread or a long loaf.

There are a lot of sauces in Tunisian cuisine, while some are so difficult to prepare that they cook for 4-5 hours.

Of the national dishes worth a try Fatima's Finger- a fried dough tube stuffed with spices, vegetables and meat (the taste of a good "Fatima's finger" resembles a homemade cheburek).

Order another spicy mutton sausage on the coals "mergez", a kind of Tunisian stew "shenuki", lamb, stewed in a pot with herbs and vegetables, lush and hearty omelet with meat and vegetables "tagine", soup "shorba" with veal and vegetables. By the way, soups in Tunisia are prepared in the French manner - from mashed vegetables, like mashed soup. The national dish is melon soup.

Tunisia is a Muslim country, so finding pork in a cafe or restaurant will not be easy. At the heart of the Tunisian meat menu prevails mutton. A favorite cooking method is roasting on charcoal or grill. Driving through the streets of Tunisian cities in the morning, you may be shocked by the sight of lamb carcasses hanging right on the street, near the shops. This is a normal picture for Tunisia - this is how fresh meat is sold here. Tunisians choose the part they like, which is immediately cut off and packaged. As a rule, by 12 o'clock the meat and fish shops of Tunisia are closed - all the products that ran and swam in the morning are sold out by this time.

In addition to lamb, Tunisians love turkey meat, veal, beef and, of course, fish, which here, oddly enough, is more expensive than meat. The most budget types - tuna, sardines. A little more expensive sea bream, shrimps.

A lobsters, octopuses, cuttlefish And shellfish and are considered a delicacy. For fish dishes, you should go to Mauritanian restaurants, which are generously scattered along the coast, near the ports.

Mussels, spiny lobster, cuttlefish ink rice

But to try a camel in Tunisia is not as easy as it seems - its meat is served in few places. We, being in Tunisia, taste what camel meat taste, it didn't work.

Tunisian street food

Knowledge of any city, any country will be incomplete without street food. Someone calls it an addition to the spirit of the city, someone - just an opportunity to have a colorful snack on the way from one attraction to another ... Both in the first and in the second case, the definition is correct. From ourselves, we would add that street food is the most tourist food in the world. And in Tunisia, it is presented in diversity.

Of course, it is difficult to imagine an Arab country without shawarma- mixtures of meat, vegetables and sauce wrapped in pita or pita bread. And in Tunisia it is! Just like, in fact, kebabs. Those who are afraid of such food, in tourist places you can buy completely edible sandwiches. The Tunisians themselves love "brik"- cheburek, which is made from unleavened dough and stuffed with eggs, vegetables and meat.

Among the gastronomic offers you can find "Leblebi" is a Turkish dish made from roasted chickpeas. It can be both spicy and salty. Or maybe no spices at all.

"Chapatti"- a type of bread that resembles something between pita and pita bread. It is customary to break it off with your hands and, having made a kind of spoon from chapatti, scoop up sauce or a snack. Similar to chapatti and Moroccan pancakes Malawi- with the only difference that they are wrapped with butter inside and sprinkled, for example, with sugar.

Both tourists and Tunisians themselves are popular with different types of street food. pizza. True, this is not a classic pizza, which, you see, would not be very convenient to eat on the go. These are small rectangular pieces with all kinds of fillings, both open and closed - your choice. In addition, you can always intercept a piece of tuna or an omelet with this fish popular in Tunisia along the way.

Sold on tourist streets and "churros"- sweet oblong pastries, the recipe of which went to Tunisia from the Spaniards.

Speaking of baking...

Sweets and pastries

What Tunisia can rightly boast of is amazing pastries! Croissants with all sorts of fillings, fragrant buns with a crispy crust - pastries are sold here both in the form of street food and in shops, and are served for breakfast in Tunisian hotels. And it's delicious everywhere. But these are rather echoes of European traditions. As well as the layered cakes you'll get for dessert at your hotel.

To appreciate Arabic sweets, try, for example, "makrud"- Arabic biscuits, the main ingredients of which are semolina, honey and dates. Together with makrud it is worth tasting honey donuts And "kaaber", "mlyabes"- cakes made on the basis of marzipan.

There are sweets already familiar to many tourists in Tunisia - baklava, halva, delight... Lokum, by the way, is better to buy in medinas, in the markets - there it is fresh and insanely tasty, as opposed to the lokum, which is sold in Tunisian stores.

Unusual taste has a local sweetness "assida"- a gentle cream, which is prepared on the basis of milk, eggs, nuts with the addition of seeds. Something like him "buza" And "balusa" with starch. But, let's say right away, sweetness is for lovers ...

When in Tunisia, be sure to try date jam! This divine ambrosia comes in several varieties - from different varieties of dates and, therefore, different tastes. The lighter, the sweeter and the more like ... honey.

Worth tasting in Tunisia and fig jam, pomegranate- in a word, there is a place for a real sweet tooth to roam!

... and a few words about drinks

Be sure to order coffee! Tunisian coffee is incredibly good, tasty and aromatic. And both in an expensive restaurant and in a roadside cafe.

If the soul asks for a national drink - order tea with mint or pine nuts.

As you remember, Tunisia is a Muslim country, and therefore alcohol is not honored there. But from the national one you can try boo- local date vodka, and "Tibarim"- date liqueur. The latter, by the way, is also taken as a souvenir from Tunisia. True, it is not so easy to find it in stores and it costs a lot. Tunisian wines are considered good. If you are a beer fanatic and are well versed in this drink, Tunisian beer is unlikely to impress you.

If you have read our review to the end and decide to buy a tour to Tunisia, then upon arrival in local cafes and restaurants, our adviсe:

If your goal is national cuisine, authenticity, the spirit of Tunisia, go to those cafes where there are a lot of locals. After all, the Tunisians themselves know very well the places where you can eat hearty, tasty and inexpensive. However! In every city in Tunisia you will see cafes where only men sit. It's not worth going there. These are places where non-working Tunisians gather, idly spending time over a bottle of cheap wine. And drinking any alcohol in Tunisia, by the way, is considered a bad habit.
- In Tunisian cafes unlike in Minsk - huge portions! If you order fish, then keep in mind that the price of the dish already includes a side dish - potatoes, rice, beans, vegetables. Calculate your strength when placing an order.
- Ask for a menu. Don't trust the waiter if he says "I am the menu". Otherwise, the waiter will not miss the opportunity to “earn” extra tips on you by naming a deliberately overpriced bill. And without seeing the menu, it will be very difficult for you to check the result.
- In any case, carefully recalculate the bill.
- If you are still cheated with a bill in a cafe and do not want to admit they were wrong, threaten with the police. This will instantly solve the problem - the account will be rechecked in your favor.

National dishes of Tunisian cuisine

This thick and fragrant soup is prepared on the basis of veal with the addition of vegetables. One of the common dining dishes of Tunisians.

Tagine. This dish, by the standards of local residents, is considered an omelette. But, from a foreigner's point of view, a dish with so much meat, cheese and roasted peppers is more like an open pie.

Burn. Almost the same omelet, only pepper sausage replaces the meat here.

In this case, we are not talking about another kind of omelette, but about veal stewed with olives.

Genoia. In the case of this dish, the meat is stewed with the addition of cilantro, slices of sweet pepper and chili.

Shakenuki. Meat stew, but unlike most Tunisian dishes, this variant is served cold.

This name hides a meat or chicken kebab made from very small pieces.

Mashvi. And this dish of Tunisian cuisine is more than solid. After all, we are talking about a lamb baked on a spit.

Brand. To prepare this dish, the meat is baked in tomato sauce.

Felfel Mahchi. For this dish, sweet peppers are started with meat and the result is fried.

Merguz. So in Tunisia they call small smoked sausages.

Harissa. Sauce prepared in the form of a paste of olive oil and red pepper. Additionally, garlic, cumin or parsley are put in it. Harissa is served with almost all dishes and serves as a condiment.

Meshuya. Salad with tuna, sardines, roasted peppers and tomatoes.

Brik. Closed pancakes made from unleavened dough stuffed with tuna or crab meat.

A dish common in all Arab countries. Prepared from millet groats with meat, vegetables and various sauces. In each country, couscous is prepared in its own way.

The sweets of Tunisia, like any eastern country, deserve special mention. Those with a sweet tooth will find traditional baklava here, as well as a huge number of cakes with dates, almonds, dried apricots, prunes, pistachios and other fillings. But there are some special desserts that you can only taste in Tunisia.

Samsa. This is not the usual puff with meat or cheese, but a thin dough bun. Roasted almonds and sesame seeds are put in samsa as a filling.

Malbia. This cake in Tunisia is made from rice and nuts. Although the combination, at first glance, seems far from sweet, you will quickly see that this is not the case.

Mahrud. This cake is created from semolina. As a filling, they put dates and candied oranges in it, generously flavoring this mixture with cinnamon.

Buza. The basis for this cake is sorghum, and the filling is nuts.

The iconic drink of Tunisia is tea brewed with mint and pine nuts. It is prepared here very strong, and the aroma of this unusual tea combination is simply impossible to convey. Coffee in Tunisia is drunk strong, putting a lot of cardamom when brewing. Among other soft drinks in Tunisia, one can name a variety of fresh juices that are drunk here in large quantities, mineral water, as well as palm milk, very popular in the southern regions of the country.

Tunisia has a good wine production; a variety of red, white and rosé wines are made here. And in Tunisia, Celtia beer is produced, a liqueur made from dates called tibarin, and vodka based on dates and figs called bucha.

National cuisine Tunisia got its start from a mixture of Berber, Arabic, Italian, Turkish and French cuisines. Local dishes are distinguished by a large assortment and variety. Their main distinguishing features are:

The special aroma of meat and fish dishes, achieved by adding spices and spices in large quantities.
An indispensable product is olive oil, which is used to cook most dishes.
Regardless of what dishes are served on the table, they are traditionally eaten with Tunisian harissa sauce. It contains red pepper, olive oil, parsley and garlic. In terms of taste properties, it is similar to Caucasian adjika.
locals they do not accept a meal without bread, which is eaten in large quantities. Favorite bakery products are pita bread and long loaf, which is served as a whole even in restaurants. In Tunisia, it is not customary to serve bread sliced, it must be broken off with your hands.
Most of the inhabitants of Tunisia are Muslims, so it is not customary to eat pork in the country. The indigenous population prefers lamb, goat meat, beef, poultry meat, as well as fish products.
In an African country, it is not customary to eat dairy products. An exception is cheese, which is sold in stores in several forms.
Popular ingredients for side dishes in the country are legumes, rice, vegetables and fruits in various variations.

Going on vacation on your own can be much cheaper than through a travel agency. To do this, you need to choose the right hotel and air tickets in Tunisia.

Any meal, regardless of whether the tourist came for lunch or dinner, begins with the serving of harissa on the table. It can be of various types: smoked and regular, home-made and industrial production, and is also classified according to the method of grinding. An obligatory component of snacks is tuna and olives. Tuna is usually consumed in canned form, black or green olives are laid out in bowls with pits. Appetizers can be supplemented with salads:

"Omak khuriya", the main ingredients of which are boiled carrots and pumpkin seasoned with spices;
"Meshuya". To prepare the salad, hot and sweet peppers are chopped into small squares and fried on the grill, fried tomatoes and garlic are added to them;
"Slata Tunsia" - a dish whose recipe includes tomatoes, cucumbers, onions and peppers.

Regardless of the ingredients that make up the soup, they have a reddish tint in color and are moderately thick, as they are prepared using tomato paste. Traditionally, during lunch, the Tunisian people prefer to eat "shorba". The broth of this type of soup has a lamb or fish base. In rare cases, it can be prepared exclusively from vegetables. Obtaining optimal density is possible by adding carefully ground wheat grains to the soup. Tunisians have their own peculiarities in preparing soups: a small amount of olive oil is poured into a container suitable for cooking on an open fire, the ingredients included in the recipe are fried in it, and then this composition is poured with the required volume of water from diluted tomato paste to the required consistency.

In African markets and in specialized stores, only fresh meat is sold. Lamb and beef products are the most widespread, although you can also see camel meat on the shelves. The only dish consisting of finely chopped meat is "kebab". Basically, locals prefer to cook meat in large pieces on a spit, skewers or in braziers. Meat products in an African country are always distinguished by their special juiciness and unsurpassed taste, as they are fried without oil in a thoroughly heated pan.

In Tunisia, fish is preferred to meat products, although its cost significantly exceeds the price of meat. The Mediterranean Sea is home to a variety of fish species. A large number of traditional dishes are prepared with meru and tuna. Eel, shrimp and shellfish are an expensive treat for both locals and tourists. For those travelers who wish to taste the delicacy, restaurants can order octopus and sea cuttlefish meat. Once in a restaurant, you need to be prepared to choose your own fish from an ice display case. After the choice is made, the chefs will bake the fish in foil, under coarse salt, deep-fried or grilled. Locals prefer to eat fish, sprinkled with a little lemon juice.

African desserts and sweets

Tunisian cuisine amazes with an abundance of sweets and desserts, which are put up for sale in pastry shops called "patisserie". The main ingredients in pastries and desserts are almonds, pistachios, pine nuts and walnuts, honey as a link, and dough as the base. The dough is made from premium flour and powdered sugar. The following sweets are common among vacationers from other countries:

"Mlyabes" - small-sized bakery products made from sugar dough and poured over with chocolate;
"Kaak el-huarka" - a shortbread ring, the basis of which is white dough, if desired, any kind of nuts can be added to it;
"Kaaber" - sweet round products, small in diameter;
"Makrud" - cookies with nuts and dates, in terms of texture and taste, it is a "wet" dough.

Before you go to the country, you should take care of obtaining a visa to Tunisia in advance.

Food in Tunisia, video:

Dishes in catering places

In the menu of restaurants located throughout the country, you can find the following dishes:
Couscous- National dish an African country, the main ingredients of which are a carefully stewed meat product, pearl barley, vegetables and an abundant amount of spices;
Chorba - soup cooked with pepper, veal meat and vegetable ingredients;
Brik - a dish prepared as follows: lamb or beef meat is chopped as small as possible, vegetables and eggs are added to it, the prepared ingredients are wrapped in dough rolled out in a thin layer and thoroughly fried;
Felfel mahchi - sweet peppers stuffed with lamb meat.

As everywhere in the East, the traditional way of eating food in Tunisia is with your hands, without the use of cutlery. Sauces and other liquid dishes are cleverly scooped up with slices of bread. Of course, now in Tunisia, few people eat only in this way, except perhaps in peasant families in remote corners of the country. But even wielding a fork and knife, you can, like your fellow Tunisians, easily, without a twinge of etiquette, now and then "dissolve your hands" and grab food with your fingers.

No one will protest this. Tunisians will not fail to assure you that eating with your hands is not only tastier, but also healthier. So you will never get burned, your contact with food occurs earlier, you not only smell and see food, but also touch it in the most appropriate way ... As for the cuisine, it is worth remembering that Tunisia is still an Arab country, therefore, many of the dishes here are of Arabic origin. Although Tunisia has a lot of its own gastronomic "know-how", as well as dishes inspired by memories of the times of the French protectorate.

Recipes of Tunisian cuisine. Dishes for the holidays. National New Year's recipes.

First meal:

squid soup
Tunisian fish soup
Tomato soup with vermicelli
Lamb shorba with vermicelli
Shorba red
Shorba from beef

Hlalim - Tunisian noodles
Brudu red lamb
Brood of veal
chicken brood
Lamb leg soup
Brudu from veal tongue
Tunisian fish soup
Shorba from fish
Shorba in Sfax
Mreyna from fish
squid soup
Vermicelli soup with squid
Mdemmes - bean soup
vegetable puree soup
Tomato soup with vermicelli
hassu traditional
Hassu modern
Teglia in Gafsinski - apricot soup
Sdir - semolina soup

Main dishes:

Potatoes with anchovies
Karbunita, or bahria
Minina
Mashed potatoes
Malsuka
Briki with egg
Briki with meat
Maazems with meat
Maazems with meat and parsley
Clack Malsuka
Briki with chicken
Briki with canned fish
Briki with anchovies
Briki with fish fillet
Maazems with canned fish
Briki with potatoes
Brika
Tajine malsuka
Tajine with cottage cheese
Bricks Dunoonee
Briki from unleavened dough stuffed with meat and cheese
Fricassee with fish
Kamebana - closed meat pie
Kamebana - open meat pie
Briquette el ham - puff pastry with meat
Oja vulgaris
tagine oja
Oja with green peas
Oja with sweet pepper
Aizhzha with spicy sauce
Oja with herring
Aizhzha with smoked fish
Oja with chicken liver and stomach
Aizhzha with potatoes and chicken giblets
Aizha with brains
Brika with giblets and chicken
Timbale with brains
Fried eggs with tomatoes and spices
Tastira
Fried fish with potatoes
Fried fish with tastira
Sardines fried in dough
baked fish
Fish baked with tomatoes
Fish baked with vegetables
Sardine casserole with sauce
Kabkaboo
Fish stewed in mint tomato sauce
Fish with pickles
Fish stuffed with potatoes
Tunisian stuffed fish
Fish "in the shroud"

fish cakes
Kefta from fish
Kefta from smoked fish
Calamari in sauce
Calamari with spinach
Tunisian stuffed calamari
Calamari stuffed with cheese
Shrimps fried in Kerkenez style
Breaded Chicken
Chicken baked in the oven
Chicken stewed with mushrooms
Chicken stewed with pickles
Braised chicken stuffed with cheese
Toasted lamb shoulder
Lamb, roasted or oven-roasted lamb meshui
Roasted leg of lamb
Mosley in Tunisian
Lamb ribs in breadcrumbs
Braised lamb mshaluat
Kebab
Lamb stew with parsley
Kabama
Tajine with spinach
Lamb mermez
Sweet lamb with chestnuts and raisins
Kefta fried on the grill
Kefta fried in oil
Kefta with boiled eggs
Mergezy - lamb sausages
Fried lamb brains
Kefta from mutton brains
Tajine from the liver and kidneys
Jemana - Garlic-stuffed beef with french fries
Beef baked with cheese and parsley
Beef baked with canned fish
Entrecote stuffed with egg
Tajine with anchovies
Adjin with beans and baked vegetables
Beef tagine with capsicum
Chakchuka nabelskaya
Winter chakchuka
Green vegetable tbiha
Tbiha with pumpkin
Tomato tagine
Stuffed eggplant
Stuffed zucchini baked in the oven
Roasted Stuffed Peppers
Fried stuffed vegetables
Couscous with lamb and vegetables
Couscous with young lamb
Couscous with Tunisian chicken
Couscous with fish and quince
Couscous with green peas
Pasta in tomato sauce
Noodles with meatballs
Tunisian pasta with lamb
Spaghetti with lamb or chicken
Nuasyr - Tunisian noodles
Rice casserole
Noodle casserole
Tunisian Gnochi
rice with milk
Steamed rice with lamb

Salads and appetizers:

Green salad
radish salad
Cucumbers with mint
Cucumber salad
Cucumber and sweet pepper salad
raw vegetable salad
Fruit salad
Sfaksky salad
Purslane salad
fennel salad
Meshuiia salad in Tunisian style
Meshuiyya salad in Nabel style
Meshuiyya salad
omi horia
potato salad
green bean salad
Fish and fennel salad
chicory salad
Salad on a canapé
Roasted vegetable salad

Baked eggplant
Roasted eggplant caviar
caponata
Boiled zucchini
Torshi-mushi
Squash Cavier
Carrots in spicy sauce
Carrot caviar

Dough dishes and desserts:

Mlaui
Rgaif
Makrud - semolina donuts with dates
Debla - Tunisian brushwood
Tunisian breadcrumbs with almonds
Peanut balls
Hobz el louz - almond bread

Balusa with starch

Turkish Delight

Salty cookies with jam

National drinks:

Tunisian coffee
Lemonade with mint
Asida from pine nuts in Tunisian style

A distinctive feature of Tunisian cuisine is a reverent attitude towards tuna. Tuna meat is not added here except to the compote. You will definitely find pieces of tuna in salads, sauces, and pastries. One familiar Tunisian cook quite seriously convinced us that the word "Tunisia", in fact, comes from the word "tuna" ("tuna"). By the way, Tunisians fundamentally believe that tuna is meat, not fish. Leaving for a long time abroad, every Tunisian must take with him a couple of jars of the so-called harissa. Because he knows that without her he will very quickly yearn for his homeland.

Harissa is grated hot red pepper. A European, after getting to know the harissa firsthand, will probably take it for an instrument of torture. Tunisians will not sit down at the table without her. Harissa is laid out on a saucer and served on the table (even at breakfast!), Pre-watering with a small amount of olive oil. So, imagine that you are having dinner in the Tunisian style. For starters, you will definitely be served this notorious harissa. Break off a piece of bread, dip it in the harissa and put it in your mouth. It's like having molten lead poured into your mouth. Tunisians are sure that it perfectly stimulates the appetite. An aperitif will help to cool the oral cavity: aniseed vodka diluted with water. Often the same type of French drinks are used: Pernod or Ricard.

Then salads are served to refresh the receptors. The most common is the Tunisian salad, which is prepared from fresh vegetables with the obligatory addition of finely chopped anise, olives and - how could it be without it! - tuna meat.

The main course is usually preceded by numerous cold appetizers, which force all the free space on the table:

A dish with a touching name "Fatima's fingers" - a mini puff pastry roll stuffed with minced meat and eggs;

Meshue - eggplants, peppers, carrots stewed with garlic;

Shakshuka is a cold vegetable stew (something like the French dish "ratatouille"). Tunisians joke that preparing shakshuka is simple: you need to collect everything that is left in the house from yesterday's meal, cut it up and stew it a little.

Tagine - eggs, tomatoes and spices baked in dough.

If you then expect to immediately move on to the main course, then you are mistaken. After all, we must also pay tribute to hot appetizers:

Brochette - a mini-barbecue of tiny pieces of meat or chicken on a wooden stick, grilled (influence of French delights);

Chevret - shrimps with spicy dark sauce;

Marka - meat baked in tomato sauce.

Sometimes the famous Tunisian brik is served as a hot snack, to which the familiar cheburek is a distant relative. However, a brik is often used as a meal on its own - 1-2 brik usually make up a quick "snack" for many Tunisians in the middle of a working day. Brik consists of a thin dough, baked to a crisp, folded into an "envelope", which contains a filling of eggs, tuna (well, how can it be without it?), And spices.

All main dishes during the Tunisian meal are served with a variety of spicy and spicy sauces. One of the most common is ezha (tomato sauce, spices, egg).

To delve into the very essence of Tunisian cuisine, we recommend ordering the famous couscous as the main dish, in the preparation of which Tunisians in the East have no equal. From the point of view of a layman, couscous is an elementary millet, poured with tomato sauce with pieces of meat, chicken or fish and with the addition of vegetables. But Tunisians cook couscous with such reverence and so inspiration that it turns out to be truly something unbanal. Couscous is cooked in a special dish - in a saucepan, inside of which something like a colander is inserted: the sauce is being prepared at the bottom, and in the meantime, coarsely ground millet is steamed in the upper part. Break something in this technology - and you really get vulgar millet instead of couscous.

What is dinner without wine? During the meal, it is better to sip the red wine MAGON (named after the ancient Carthaginian commander and agronomist, author of the famous treatise on agriculture). This wine is considered the best in Tunisia. If you are a big connoisseur of wines, then you can experiment with other noteworthy Tunisian brands:

Red wines - VIEUX MAGON, CHATEAU MORNAG.

Rosé wines - GRIS DE TUNISIE, VIEUX DE THIBAR, CHATEAU ROSEE.

White wines - MUSKAT DE KELEBIA, BLANC DE BLANC, SIDI RAIS.

Those who prefer beer can sip on the local (and only in Tunisia) CELTIA beer. Fans of stronger drinks can stick to BOUHA date vodka (Tunisians who have studied Russian like to joke that the Russian word "thump" comes from the name of this particular drink). After dinner and before coffee, you will definitely be offered a refreshing glass of tibarin, a strong date liqueur. Tibarin is usually poured into the bottom of a large cognac glass and drunk in one gulp.

We dare to assure you that after such a feast you will look around with new meaningfulness. And the reality surrounding you, in which, as well as in Tunisian cuisine, a lot of great Arab, French and African culture is mixed, you will like it even more.