Through the souk with your chef

The experience starts with mint tea and a brief introduction at a traditional riad in the heart of the medina. From there, you head out on foot with your chef into a working souk — not the main tourist lanes, but the neighbourhood market where local families buy their daily ingredients.

Your chef guides you through the stalls: selecting vegetables, smelling spice blends, choosing preserved lemons, picking up fresh herbs. You learn what to look for, how ingredients are used differently in Moroccan kitchens, and why certain spice combinations define the cuisine. It is a short walk, but by the time you return to the riad, you have a basket full of everything needed for the meal ahead.

Spices, knives, and the rhythm of the kitchen

Back at the riad, the cooking begins. You work hands-on at your own station, guided step by step through each dish. The chef explains the layering of flavours that defines Moroccan cooking — the slow build of spice, the balance of sweet and savoury, the role of preserved ingredients like olives, lemons, and dried fruits.

You prepare a traditional tagine from scratch, learning how to arrange and season the ingredients in the conical clay pot. Alongside, you make classic Moroccan salads — zaalouk and taktouka — using techniques passed down through home kitchens. The pace is relaxed and social. You cook, you taste, you ask questions.

A sweet finish and the art of Moroccan pastry

The session also includes a dessert — either a coiled mhencha pastry with almonds and orange blossom water, or a simpler finish of fresh oranges with cinnamon and mint. The chef walks you through each step, sharing the small tips that distinguish home-cooked Moroccan sweets from their restaurant versions.

Throughout the class, you learn not just recipes but the logic behind them — why ginger is paired with saffron, how charmoula differs from chermoula, what a proper ras el hanout blend contains, and how Moroccan bread plays a different role at the table than European bread.

Lunch on the terrace

When everything is ready, you sit down together to eat what you’ve prepared. The meal is served in the riad — either on the terrace or in the courtyard, depending on the season. It is a full lunch: salads, tagine, bread, and dessert, shared with your fellow guests around one table.

Before you leave, you receive printed or digital copies of all the recipes from the session, along with a short spice guide — so what you’ve learned in Marrakech can travel home with you.

More than a cooking lesson

This is a half-day experience that offers something most restaurant meals cannot: the chance to understand Moroccan food from the inside. You see how ingredients are sourced, learn how flavours are built, cook with your hands, and eat what you’ve created in a setting that feels more like a home than a classroom.

It works as well for complete beginners as it does for confident cooks. The focus is on technique, culture, and enjoyment — not on performance.