Moroccan markets - Casablanca

Possibly the only time you have heard of Casablanca is a vague reference to the 1940’s film of the same namesake featuring Humphrey Bogart. Unfortunately ‘Casablanca’ the movie was filmed entirely in Hollywood so don’t go hiring it expecting to get a feel for the place.

Casablanca, like most Moroccan cities, has an ancient walled medina where one ramshackle lane looks exactly the same as the next, so it is entirely possible to walk round & round & round & round (you get the idea). After wandering aimlessly for an hour or so I came across my first unofficial medina market.


Fruit (huge watermelons), vegetables (heavily featuring green beans, scruffy looking onions & tomatoes), breads, eggs, stalls selling an extensive array of spices/nuts/dates/olives and meat (including squawking ++ from the poultry stalls with some sharp cleavers).

Cheery looking chaps aren't they?



Moving these must be a bitch.


It doesn’t seem like refrigeration is a high priority or even at all possible in these old fashioned markets, but nobody seemed too worried about it. Let’s not even mention sanitation.



Back in town the ‘Marché Central’ is a bit more of a regulated set up, somewhat similar to the Queen Vic Markets with seafood (anyone for a live turtle?), meat (many specialising in horse meat with a side dish of flies), & fruit/veg all in their separate sections. Once again refrigeration was absent (however some ice could be seen in the fish area).

Some type of fish?
Huge beef carcass.
Not one to miss out on the action of course!



Am I going to be brave enough to try some Mr Ed?

Patisseries surround the exterior of the Marché, most accompanied by a hungry swarm of bees. Mmmmmm crunchy.
And don't worry - if you forgot to grab spices or olives at the Marché, you can always pick them up at the supermarket.


As the Woolworths lady says - 'That's our weekly fresh food wrap up from the markets.'

I'm off to find something to eat. Stay tuned.