Cooking holiday in Marrakech, Morocco
How this holiday makes a difference
Environment
The riad where you stay and cook was lovingly restored over four and a half long years. While the cook tops and bathrooms are state of the art, the rest of the building has old materials sourced from all over Morocco. The colours used in the tadelakt and hand glazed tiles are all natural pigments either from rocks or plants, the use of cement was kept to a minimum by supervising the renovations to include replacement of earth and stone, annoying the builder who loved sacks of cement more than life. Carpets were chosen from the ladies who made them or old ones rescued from back rooms, where they lay, forgotten. The courtyard has a big plastic dome keeping us all snug in winter and again the builder's wrath was upon me when all pipes for air conditioners were removed, having instead, energy efficient heaters, fans, an open fire and a hot water bottle to clutch and climb the stairs to bed with, some nights..
The artisans chosen, were those still practicing true to their craft. The tadelakt was polished by the craftsman's stone and the mix was left until he was satisfied that all was well, coming each day for six weeks to add a little water or pigment or more powdered marble or nothing at all, just stirring in the wading pools he had made for each of the six mixes. The craftsmen responsible for all the carved ceilings and the decorative work around the top of the courtyard walls and one window, worked solidly for eight months. The last ceiling I gave them to decorate how they liked not how I had pictured in my head as were the other ceilings and the work is truly beautiful, disguising perfectly the irregularities of the walls. The house is truly testament to the time honoured art of having run from your fingers, what the mind's eye sees.
Community
We are involved in this tiny mountain community from the moment we leave the car, turning to claim produce grown in fields a day's walk away, the muleteer who leads us up the mountain teaching us Berber as we clip clop along, celebrating with the ladies as they teach us in their earth built kitchen, choosing tajines made by the the grandfather pedalling his wheel sitting in the clay pit, by buying everything we cook, locally, all of which benefits economically of course but its the demonstration of being valued, in the learning enough of the language of this land to understand the nuances of greetings and to exclaim at day's end 'Thank you so much, today I'm so happy!...chokran bizaff, leeyum ana frahanna'.. the melting even for a moment, differences.
We take with us on each of the classes, stationery and writing tools for the children, warm sox and clothing such as they wear and replacement for things we notice are broken or nearly.
We have a check list of things that the family need to prapare for each class so there is a sense of responsibility for the family in the chain and an understanding that we working together in the hope that we will avoid the problems in so may areas that have become touristic and allowing the locals to simply expect.
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