Virtual Magazine of Morocco on the Web
Morocco Week in Review 
August 29, 2009

Splendour of Moroccan landscapes showcased in USA by Peace Corps volunteers.
By Naoufal Enhari Washington

Photographs showing the beauty of Moroccan landscapes and its human and cultural diversity are showcased until late August at Cazenovia (New York), by a young American couple, volunteers in the Peace Corps who has just completed a two-year mission in Morocco. In an exhibition under the theme "Morocco: (partially) revealed" Kristin and David Lafever portray the most vivid memories of their stay in the north African country, as well as the exceptional beauty and diversity of the Moroccan culture and landscapes.

"The purpose of this event is to educate Americans about Morocco by sharing stories and photographs," Kristin Lafever told MAP. She recently returned with her husband to the United States after a mission of 27 months in the village of Tounfite (Khenifra province) at the foot of the snowy peaks of the High Atlas Mountain.

Photographs to finance development projects
This exhibition, said Kristin, “will help to raise money for ongoing Peace Corps projects in the region” where the couple served as ecological volunteers and participated in several local development projects. “We loved the village we lived in, and formed very close bonds with our Moroccan family and with many people in our village,” added Kristin on a nostalgic tone, saying that she was deeply touched by the “wonderful hospitality and generosity” of Moroccans.

Same values shared
Tounfite population, particularly women, also benefited from the availability and the know-how of the young couple. The latter contributed to a training program for midwives in rural areas, initiated by the Health Ministry and whose objective is to reduce the rate of maternal and infant mortality in the region.

The primary mission of the Peace Corps is to promote friendship and peace between peoples and provides technical assistance to local populations and promoting exchange between cultures and learning from each other, Kristina said. “One part of our experience we hope to share with Americans is about Islam, since many Americans do not understand the religion,” Kristina added. “We have the same values, the same hopes and dreams for our families and our children, and the same human spirit," she concluded.
http://www.map.ma/eng/sections/see_also/splendour_of_morocca/view
Cazenovia native remembers U.S. Peace Corps service in Morocco with photographs
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Some MAD 93m of grants to be distributed in Morocco in 2009-2010 school year
Rabat

The total value of grants to be distributed in the 2009-2010 school year in Morocco amounts to 92.8 million Moroccan dirhams ($11.6 million) benefiting 90,000 students, Education Minister announced on Wednesday. Ahmed Akhchichine highlighted, during a meeting of a ministerial coordination commission, held under the chairmanship of Abbas El Fassi, the importance of the education system reform.

He also underlined the measures taken for the new school year, including widening the scope of the educational offer in the primary and secondary levels and promoting preschool education by devising an upgrading plan for 24,000 teachers, as well as creating 230 classes for preschool education and providing school stationery to 7,000 children.

The minister noted that transport means will be provided to encourage schooling and ensure equal opportunities of access to obligatory education. The measures also include fighting dropout and repetition, improving the education system governance and promoting human resources.
http://www.map.ma/eng/sections/home/some_mad_93m_of_gran/view
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Morocco education incentives for needy families earn mixed grades.
By Siham Ali 2009-08-21

The Tayssir programme, Morocco's latest effort to push for higher primary school enrolment, provides parents with monetary rewards for keeping children in school. Morocco's Tayssir programme, which helps poor families enrol their children in school, is earning high grades from many parents and cautious criticism from some observers.

Tayssir is just one in a series of experimental programmes launched by the government to better assist the target population of the social welfare-oriented Caisse de Compensation (compensation fund). In its pilot phase this year, over 63 million dirhams were divided amongst 131,000 families to ease the financial burden on parents who want to send their children to school.

"I've been able to buy some of the things the children need," said Tayssir beneficiary Fatima, a mother of three living in Marrakech who received 1,100 dirhams. "I would have liked to receive more, but it's encouraging in and of itself, because my husband only works during the summertime," she said.

Project director Habib Kinani said that although it is still too early to evaluate the programme, there is already an increase in the number of new primary school enrolments. Some children who dropped out of school were able to re-enrol due to the aid given to their families, he added.

During its pilot phase, the government tried out its Tayssir financial assistance in villages throughout five regions. To be eligible, villages needed to have a poverty rate above 30% and at least 8% of eligible young people not pursuing an education. Despite first-year setbacks and obstacles, Tayssir has showed highly impressive results, according to Kinani. But Latifa Bennani Smires, MP and leader of the Istiqlal party, would like to see an even more comprehensive approach than the one offered by Tayssir.

"The idea of giving direct aid to needy families is certainly a good one, but not sufficient," said Smires, who stressed the importance of helping families make a steady income. To increase primary school enrolment, she said, "there are many other factors that need to be taken into account, such as the need to provide transportation and to build reception centres for pupils".

Teacher Ali Bekkali echoed Smires's concerns, saying that the amounts given to families are too low when compared with their financial needs. "In the countryside, children are a source of income for their parents," said the teacher. "They help them cultivate crops, look after livestock, do housework and sell produce at weekly markets. The amount given should be enough to encourage people to send their children to school regularly."

Tayssir payments are distributed on a sliding scale, depending on how far a child has progressed in the school system. The programme provides 60 dirhams for each child in the first and second years of primary school, while parents of a fifth or sixth grader receive 100 dirhams. The government is considering the idea of making direct aid only to households that immunise their children and enrol them in school.

In some regions, especially those with high unemployment, funds are given only to mothers, since they are considered most likely to ensure the money is used for schooling. In other districts, fathers who receive the funds can decide which of their children would benefit most from schooling. "This kind of programme makes it possible to test how effectively aid is targeted and thereby avoid the problems that have already been identified," said a source at the Ministry of Economic and General Affairs.

Officials hope to bypass the initial problems faced by the pilot programme as they gear up for its second fiscal year, which begins in September. They said that limited access to certain regions, and the reluctance of some men to allow their wives to receive funding, were obstacles that needed to be overcome. http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/features/2009/08/21/feature-01
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Ancient beads discovered in Morocco.
RABAT, Morocco, Aug. 28 (UPI)

Twenty-five shell beads excavated in Morocco suggest people were wearing and possibly trading jewelry 80,000 years ago, archaeologists said. The beads found at four sites in Morocco are similar to beads found previously in Algeria, Israel and South Africa, the European Science Foundation reported Friday.

The Moroccan shells have holes drilled through the center and some have signs of pigmentation and prolonged wear, said Francesco d'Errico, a director at the French National Center for Scientific Research. "Either people went to sea and collected them, or more likely marine shell beads helped create and maintain exchange networks between coastal and inland peoples," d'Errico said.

The beads provide clues to innovative behavior as early humans spread their cultures beyond Africa, d'Errico said."The early invention of the personal ornament is one of the most fascinating cultural experiments in human history," he said.
http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2009/08/28/Ancient-beads-discovered-in-Morocco/UPI-59711251487367/
More: http://blogs.sciencemag.org/origins/2009/08/more-evidence-for-ancient-symb.html
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Government offices in Morocco catch the technology bug.
By Rachid Jankari 2009-08-21

More of Morocco's public servants are gaining access to the internet and advanced technology, but a recent survey found that a fully wired government remains an elusive goal. Morocco's public sector is increasingly wired with information and communications technology (ICT) but faces challenges in equipping and supporting employees, a recent survey showed.

The comprehensive survey, the first of its type ever carried out on ICT in the public sector, was conducted by the Ministry for Public Sector Modernisation by mailing questionnaires to 256 bodies, including ministries, high commissions and public agencies.

Although the survey showed a strong presence of ICT in 86% of the government bodies that responded, it also revealed that a relatively small number of ministerial departments have high-quality infrastructure, and few have significant levels of IT support staff.

"While the Moroccan government has an annual budget of 600 million dirhams for operations and investment, this survey nonetheless shows that there is a small number of IT staff," said Karim Jazouan, a manager at the internet, mobile and content service provider Casanet. "IT specialists make up just 1% of the staff of the various government authorities."

Support issues aside, several positive trends appeared in the survey, which was conducted between October 2008 and June 2009.

First, the ministry found that local area networks are becoming more common within government agencies. The survey report, released in July, showed that more than 90% of the respondents, including those within ministerial departments, have these networks.

A second positive sign of IT integration is the percentage of government bodies possessing domain names. More than 79% of the respondents reported having this crucial intellectual property. Yet only 287 of the public-sector agencies surveyed actually used their domain name to put up a website.

"Besides the limited number of government websites, even those that are online do not provide up-to-date or locally relevant information," said the director of the development company ADK Media, Driss Lebbat, underlining another deficiency in the government use of ICT.

Bolstering IT security is another priority of the Moroccan government, according to the survey. Of the government bodies surveyed, 47% reported having an integrated IT framework or IT plan, and an equal percentage said they have an IT security plan. Nearly 70% of the public-sector bodies surveyed reported having an IT system security officer.

Despite these technological advances, challenges face Morocco's ICT efforts. The survey showed that on average, just one workstation (desktop computer or laptop) is available for every four public-sector employees. Just half of all computers are connected to the internet, the clunky 256kbps being the most common access speed. Perhaps as a consequence of this low connectivity, only 12% of public-sector employees have a work email address.

Morocco is also working to get the bugs out of its e-governance, the survey revealed. The kingdom has 286 remote services that operate via various distribution channels such as the internet, call centres and interactive terminals, the survey found, all of which must be protected from computer and network glitches.

"The challenge currently facing authorities is to successfully adopt a form of governance for its e-gov strategy and also to encourage resource-sharing and subcontracting to make successes of the projects under way," said the general secretary of the Department of Postal Services, Telecommunications and Information Technology Tayeb Debbagh.

In the face of all these challenges, Moroccan public-sector employees are showing resourcefulness. The survey showed that more than one in three agencies uses free software, and the use of freeware jumped to 39.25% among those with a database management system (DBMS). http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/features/2009/08/21/feature-02
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Morocco 3rd best FDI destination in Africa.

Morocco was ranked the third best destination for foreign direct investment (FDI) in the African continent for the 2009-2010 fiscal year, behind South Africa and Egypt, according to a recent report by FDI Intelligence. The study considered numerous criteria for making such a rank, including infrastructures, local strategies for encouraging FDI, the economic potential, human resources, living standards and market openness.

The report, titled "African Countries of the Future 2009-2010", was developed by a panel of independent experts, ranking 59 African countries according to the results from the above criteria.

The FDI Intelligence is a specialist division from the Financial Times Ltd that provides products, services and business tools that allow companies and economic development organizations to make informed decisions regarding foreign direct investment.
http://www.morocconewsline.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=387&Itemid=1
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Find high style in the High Atlas.

A Swiss artist has brought a touch of glamour to the mountains, but a warm Berber welcome is still guaranteed, writes Nicola Iseard. Nicola IseardThe Observer, Sunday 23 August 2009 Article history

From the terrace of our riad in Marrakech they had barely been visible, just a hazy silhouette against the dark mottled sky. But as our taxi peeled away from the city, out into the southern plains, they appeared through the dust: great peaks of burnt-orange rock. Heading deep into the foothills we were soon surrounded by startling mountain-desert scenery.

Spanning the breadth of Morocco, the Atlas Mountains act as a barrier between the lush, fertile plains of the Mediterranean and Atlantic coastlines in the north and the encroaching sands of the Sahara desert in the south. The result is an astonishing landscape, where arid rangeland meets fast flowing rivers and rich vegetation, above which tower snowy summits. My fiancé, Christian, and I would only be scratching the surface during our two-day trek, but for us it wasn't just about the landscape - we were here to get an authentic taste of Berber life, staying in the hamlet of Tamatert in the High Atlas.

Tamatert is inaccessible by car: the taxi dropped us at Imlil, where we loaded our backpacks into the brightly coloured panniers of a donkey and set off towards the hamlet.

It had taken us less than two hours to reach Tamatert from Marrakech, but the two were worlds apart. The quiet was overwhelming. As we ascended the steep lane - no more than a metre wide, lined with mud houses and peopled with foraging goats - it was like being transported back centuries in time; children peeked from behind the long robes of their mothers, while other, more daring, ones darted out from open doorways to see who the new arrivals were.

Foreigners aren't entirely unknown in Tamatert, though. Five years ago the Berber guest house of Douar Samra was opened by an enchanting Swiss woman, Jacqueline Brandt. After the death of her son in an accident in 1998, Jacqueline went in search of "a rebirth". A keen painter, she moved from her home in France, to Morocco, having been captivated by its light. She began in Marrakech, but was drawn to the mountains, particularly to Tamatert, where she fell in love with its plunging view of the valley.

"But there were no good beds to sleep in up here, or toilets!" she says. "I wanted to build a house for people like me to stay in." So that's what she did. In 2004 Jacqueline bought a derelict house, knocked it down and, with the help of locals - who adopted her as one of their own - built a traditional Berber house of pisé (beaten earth), wood and stone. Douar Samra was born. "Welcome, my friends," Jacqueline beamed, holding open the front door with one hand, clutching one of her three shih-tzu dogs in the other. "Now you can relax," she said, leading us to our suite (there are seven guest bedrooms in all). "You are home."

It was like stepping into a much-loved haven: the floors were covered with woven grass mats, the walls were hung with local art, the beds were piled with Berber blankets and sequined cushions. Suites it may have, but this is no hotel; Jacqueline has created a traditional Berber home, which welcomes visitors but is part of the community. Bread is bought daily from a lady next door, the linen is washed a few doors up and local people help run Samra. Omar tends the garden, growing rhubarb, courgettes and tomatoes, which are cooked by Rashida and served to guests by Mohammed.

After an early night and a hearty breakfast of boiled eggs, fresh bread and jam, it was time to do as the Berbers do: walk. We set off with our guide Abdul - an energetic 30-year-old with a cheeky grin and passion for the history and culture of his country - on a six-hour round-trip trek to Tachdirte.

As we began our ascent up a steep rocky hillside scattered with cedar trees, I could feel my leg muscles starting to burn. On cue, Abdul breezily announced that Tachdirte is in fact the highest village in North Africa, at over 2,000m. Gulp. Thankfully, when we reached the pass and set off along a meandering road towards the village the going got easier.

The Berbers call the Atlas idraren draren, "Mountains of Mountains", and I was starting to see why: they were all-encompassing, stretching for miles, dusty red or shadowy ochre, depending on the position of the sun.

As we neared Tachdirte, I noticed rocks below speckled with flashes of colour - it was laundry, drying in the midday sun. A huddle of women were washing clothes in the river while husbands, sons and brothers tended crops in the bright green irrigated fields and walnut groves that straddle the river. Abdul told us they sell the crops at the market in Imlil, using the money to buy sugar and fruit. We heard music and excited voices. It was Marouf, a day of celebration, where people from the village congregate for a meal to give thanks to Allah for a good year's health and harvest.

With a small wave and a "salaam alaykum" ("peace be with you") we left them to it, and passed through the village, only to realise we'd been followed by a group of children. "Bonbons?", they asked, palms outstretched, and I cursed myself for not thinking to bring sweets with me.

Our excursion was a talking point at dinner that evening, with newly arrived guests eager to hear about our day. Meals at Samra are a communal affair: everyone sits together around low tables in a den-like room at the top of the house. The food was plentiful and delicious: large earthenware dishes of slow-cooked lamb with cinnamon and saffron, spicy lentil salad, fresh bread and bean dips, followed by sweet sponge cake and mint tea. When the light began to fade, Mohammed filled the room with candles and lanterns (while our suite had electricity, most of the house did not).

The mercury was hitting 30C when we set out the next morning. Abdul was leading us on a three-hour walk to Sidi Chamharouch, a Berber settlement which has grown up around a Muslim shrine, and is on the trekking route to Toubkal, at 4,167m the highest mountain in North Africa.

We followed a path from Imlil to Armed, the largest village in the valley, before crossing a vast flood plain, and climbing up a steep hillside to join a narrow trail. There was hardly a soul around, but occasionally women appeared from nowhere carrying huge bales of scrub on their backs (dinner for their mules, we later discovered).

Sidi Chamharouch, set beside a waterfall, is a cluster of pisé homes, above which towers the shrine: a huge white-painted rock with a flag on top. We sat by the stream and refuelled on mackerel, rice, peppers, potatoes and cherries, all of which Abdul had carried in his backpack. Above us, a man in a brown robe sat cross-legged, deep in prayer.

"People with problems or unhappiness come from all over Morocco to this shrine looking for help from Allah," said Abdul. "They come with a goat or a chicken, which they sacrifice and share with the village people. They stay here until they dream good thoughts that show them the future will be better."

Back at Samra that evening, Mohammed served us mint tea and biscuits on the terrace. And as I gazed out at the plunging view that had captured Jacqueline's heart all those years ago, I couldn't help but think that, in a place like this, good thoughts really come all on their own.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2009/aug/23/morocco-walking-holidays-atlas-mountains/print
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Morocco charity trip for Sheffield University graduate.
Published Date: 26 August 2009

KILLAMARSH girl Stacey Clifford is not one for feeling homesick. She's not in the slightest bit phased by the prospect of volunteering in a tiny village in the Moroccan mountains - even though she doesn't speak the language, there will only be one other Westerner in the area, and it's a 10km trek along a tiny track to the nearest internet cafe.

The 22-year-old Sheffield University graduate told The Star: "I'm not too worried. I've been abroad before - and I'll be able to keep in touch with home every so often at an internet cafe. One of the few things Stacey is worried about is the food.

"I've heard stories about volunteers being fed strange food like heart and brains - I'm not too keen on that.

"I'm also a little bit worried that I'll accidentally offend someone by making some cultural mistake.

"I speak French, which is spoken across most of Morocco, pretty well. But in the village where I'm going they only speak a mountain dialect.

So it's going to be a challenge to learn the customs and get along with everyone."

Stacey is leaving her home in Station Road, Killamarsh, at the beginning of September to put her recently obtained degree in Civil Engineering and French to good use."I'm doing this trip for a charity called Engineers Without Borders. I thought it would be a good way to actually do some good with the skills I've learned," the former Eckington School pupil said.

She is going to try and help the mountain community solve some of the problems they have had with water contamination and crop disease, by helping improve their irrigation system. "Hopefully I'll be able to achieve something there," Stacey said. "But first I'm going to have to learn how to deal with the heat. Because it's a conservative country I'll have to have everything covered, from elbows to ankles.
"
At 40 degrees, I'm going to boil!" Stacey is raising all the money for the trip herself. To donate, or to find out more about her adventure, email stacey.mouse@hotmail.co.uk.
http://www.thestar.co.uk/news/Morocco-charity-trip-for-Sheffield.5590991.jp
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Author tells doctor’s story in first book.
BY MARY WICOFF DANVILLE

Folks in Gessie, Ind., knew the Hollowell twins would make a name for themselves one day. As children, brothers Thomas and Terry were intelligent, creative and curious — traits that led them to travel the world and have adventures.

Now, Thomas, 30, who lives in Morocco, is traveling in the United States, promoting his first book, “Allah’s Garden.” The non-fiction book is getting good reviews from those who have read it.

“It’s wonderful,” said Janet Sare of Gessie, a former neighbor. The Hollowell boys and her grandson, Dustin Poer, now of Covington, Ind., used to play together. “I’m proud of what he’s done with his life,” she said. “To have the courage, to go to a foreign country, and have the perseverance to stick with the guy (featured in the book) and to write the story … I’m truly amazed.” “I knew when he was 4 years old, he was going to do something great,” Sare added.

The book tells the true story of a Moroccan doctor who was one of the longest-held POWs in world history, a victim of a forgotten war deep in the Sahara Desert of Morocco. Those Sahara sands have been long venerated by Muslims as Allah’s Garden.

The book takes a unique twist, however, as Hollowell intersperses accounts of his own life in Morocco among the chapters about the doctor’s captivity.

A publisher had suggested mixing Hollowell’s stories with the doctor’s to give people some lighter reading along the way. The book starts with the attack on the doctor’s village and ends with the author and the doctor meeting each other.

“It works … it gives people a break,” Hollowell said.

Love of travel

A 1996 graduate of North Vermillion High School, Hollowell and his twin graduated from Wabash College in Crawfordsville, Ind., in 2000. The brothers worked in Costa Rica for a short time.

Then, Thomas worked at the Center for Children’s Services in Danville for about a year and taught English as a Second Language at Danville Area Community College.

He joined the Peace Corps in 2002, and requested to be placed in Morocco. While at Wabash, he had met two Moroccans and was intrigued by their culture and country.

After less than a year with the Peace Corps, Hollowell decided to stay in the country. He worked in Rabat as a language instructor and later moved to Ifrane — where he lives now — and taught English at a high school. He speaks French and Arabic.

In 2003, one of his students invited him home to meet a man who had been a POW for 25 years; the student thought Hollowell could write a magazine article about the man’s life.

“I became enthralled with this guy’s story,” he said, referring to the doctor known as Azeddine. He interviewed the doctor at various times over the next year, and began writing the story.

“I wanted the book to be something that would read like a novel, but also read like nonfiction,” he said.

Hollowell talked to several authors and publishers before he settled upon the book’s present format. He spent more than three years writing and editing it.

Trip to Morocco

During this time, Hollowell left teaching and started a travel Web site called Journey Beyond Travel. The company offers customized tours of Morocco. He still owns it, but other people run it.

Because of that connection, he and the publisher are offering a free 10-night trip to Morocco in west Africa to two people whose names are chosen in a drawing. People who have bought the book are eligible for the drawing, with the winner announced in January.

“It’s a very secure country, very modern and Western in their thought,” he said. The people are friendly and hospitable, and rely on tourism. It’s also a diverse country, with coasts, mountains, forests and deserts.

Once his book was published, Yale University invited Hollowell to make presentations at its summer institute on health and conflict in the Middle East. The university paid for his flight to the United States.

He’s doing book signings now, including a book launch party in New York, and will stay in the Indiana area until Sept. 20. A book signing earlier this week at the Danville Public Library went well, he said, and another is planned for Saturday at Waldenbooks.

Hollowell has explored more than 35 countries and territories, and just finished writing “The Everything Travel Guide to Ireland,” which will be published in March. He also has several other writing projects in mind.

His twin, Terry, is a freelance writer in Connecticut, and also helps with the Moroccan tours. Their parents are Karol Pedraza of Gessie and David Hollowell of Covington.

COMING UP

Thomas Hollowell will sign copies of his book, “Allah’s Garden,” from 1-3 p.m. Saturday at Waldenbooks in the Village Mall. The 200-page softcover book, which sells for $14.95, is available at Waldenbooks or at most bookstores online. It’s published by Tales Press in Urbana.

ON THE WEB
-- More information about the book and registering to win a trip to Morocco is available at http://www.allahs-garden.com
-- The book’s publisher is at http://www.talespress.com
-- Hollowell’s site is http://www.thomashollowell.com
http://www.commercial-news.com/local/local_story_231215529.html
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Morocco's Extraordinary Donkeys: The author returns to Fez to explore the stubborn animal's central role in the life of this desert kingdom
By Susan Orlean /Photographs by Eric Sander / Smithsonian magazine, September 2009

The donkey I couldn't forget was coming around a corner in the walled city of Fez, Morocco, with six color televisions strapped to his back. If I could tell you the exact intersection where I saw him, I would do so, but pinpointing a location in Fez is a formidable challenge, a little like noting GPS coordinates in a spider web. I might be able to be more precise about where I saw the donkey if I knew how to extrapolate location using the position of the sun, but I don't. Moreover, there wasn't any sun to be seen and barely a sliver of sky, because leaning in all around me were the sheer walls of the medina —the old walled portion of Fez —where the buildings are so packed and stacked together that they seem to have been carved out of a single huge stone rather than constructed individually, clustered so tightly that they blot out the shrieking blue and silver of the Moroccan sky.
Read more: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/53144177.html#ixzz0PUodfLOu
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During Ramadan, Asma Houbaizhi will cook all day but not eat.
Saturday, August 22, 2009 By Ann Rodgers, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09234/992587-323.stm#ixzz0PV3e7hDi

Scents of cinnamon, curry and garlic wafted from the kitchen of the Islamic Center of Pittsburgh as Asma Houbaizhi poured spices over a tub of raw lamb. For the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, which begins today, she will spend most days cooking for 400 people, but unable to take a bite or even a sip of water. During Ramadan Muslims fast from both food and drink from sunrise to sunset. Ms. Houbaizhi is in charge of preparing the community meal after sundown prayers.

"It doesn't matter if you have strong faith or weak faith. The first day is always difficult," said Ms. Houbaizhi, who came yesterday to start the marinade. Finding no apron in the kitchen the 28-year-old native of Morocco cut holes in a trash bag and wore it over her brightly striped tunic and long skirt. Her hair was protected by the yellow veil wrapped tightly about her head.

On a table nearby, large red boxes held 150 pounds of dates, the traditional food with which Muslims first break their fast.

Ramadan is the month in which Muslims believe God revealed the Quran, their holy book, to the Prophet Muhammad. Because it is a lunar month it falls a bit earlier each year, working slowly backward through the seasons. The Quran contains the commandment to fast during Ramadan in order to learn self-control, said Imam Abdusemih Tadese, spiritual leader of the Oakland mosque. Everyone -- including non-Muslims -- is invited to the community meal, which typically draws at least 300 people.

"Our sisters and brothers who cook make sure that the food is not only ready, but delicious," he said.
For Ms. Houbaizhi, cooking while fasting is a spiritual exercise. "The purpose of fasting is to work with your faith to have a strong soul," she said."When you are cooking you get the blessing of feeding the people who are fasting." For tonight, she prepared a Moroccan dish. But over the month she uses recipes from all over the world. She knows French cooking -- Morocco was once a French colony -- and brings that in. Other members of the mosque supply recipes from Syria, Egypt, India, Afghanistan and other nations. There will also be an American night.

She doesn't cook every day. Each meal is sponsored by someone as an act of charity, and some sponsors like to cook. Many volunteers help. This is her second year in charge. She learned years earlier, working at Subway, that she could cook without eating."I didn't eat the food. When you work with it every day, you lose the taste for it. That's me. When I'm cooking, I'm eating with my eyes."

Ann Rodgers can be reached at arodgers@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1416. First published on August 22, 2009
Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09234/992587-323.stm#ixzz0PV3ZzeRC
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09234/992587-323.stm
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Morocco loving the McArabia: McDonald's is part of trend to localize recipes in international franchises.
Erik German - GlobalPost August 26, 2009

RABAT, Morocco — Walk into a McDonald's in Morocco and you'll find a sandwich you can’t get anywhere else in the world: a cumin-spiced flatbread creation called the McArabia Tagine.

The McArabia was launched across the Middle East in 2003, but this year the 23 McDonald's franchises in Morocco further localized the recipe by tweaking the seasoning and sauce.

“Honestly it tastes Moroccan,” said Noor El Ghoumari, 34, a man who had just paid 53 dirhams, or about $6.60, for a meal with one of the ground beef sandwiches in Rabat on a recent afternoon. “This is a local McDonald’s and obviously they have to adapt.”

McDonald’s is far from the only fast-food giant to embrace an expanding trend of localization, nor is the Arab world alone in inspiring new dishes. Domino’s pizzas come topped with squid in Taiwan, black beans in Guatemala and feta cheese in Greece. In China, Kentucky Fried Chicken sells rice congee, while Col. Sanders in India woos vegetarians with offerings like the Chana Snacker, a chickpea burger topped with Thousand Island sauce.

“They’ve all adopted this strategy,” said Tom Miner, a principal at Technomic, a Chicago-based international food industry consulting firm. “It’s accelerating because the number of brands going international is accelerating. Now instead of two or three brands going global in their menus, now you’ve got two or three dozen.” Miner said his company has helped dozens of global chains tailor their recipes to local tastes. He said the necessary flavor adjustments tend to follow a pattern mapped out by a pair of Cornell University biologists in 1998.

After surveying more than 4,500 meat recipes from 36 countries, the scientists found that cultures in hotter climates overwhelmingly favored recipes with higher concentrations of anti-microbial spices like garlic, cumin and pepper. The biologists posited that developing a taste for spice gave people in hot climates an evolutionary boost by making them less likely to eat contaminated food.

“The culinary preferences are similar in concentric bands around and parallel to the equator,” Miner explained. “When you’re on the equator you need a different kind of spice to make those proteins last longer in heat,” a fact that “hardwired the genetic food preferences.”

Profiting from those preferences is now easier than ever, said Joseph Lampel, a professor of corporate strategy at Cass Business School in London. Fast food kitchens and the methods used to supply them have advanced to the point that a totally standardized menu is no longer a necessity, he said.

McDonald’s can now afford to sell Shrimp Burgers in Hong King, lemon pepper Shaka Shaka Chicken patties in Japan and chili-spiced SingaPorridge breakfast dishes in Singapore — and in some ways it can’t afford not to.

“Everybody is racing not only to be cheaper but to have more variety,” Lampel said. “They’re beginning to see it as an advantage and not a compromise.”

The McArabia was launched across the Middle East just after the United States’ invasion of Iraq — a troubled time when both American policy and consumer brands sought footholds in a newly hostile region.

For the Morrocan version, McDonald's scrapped the McArabia's garlic-based tahini sauce and seasoned the meat with spices Moroccans use for stews made in traditional cone-lidded pots called tagines.

Elongated Quarter Pounder patties are first spiked with cumin, coriander and other flavors. Then they’re fried, slathered with a piquant tomato sauce, sprinkled with bell peppers and wrapped in soft, pita-style bread. McDonald’s officials here said the effort has been a success so far. Sixty percent of the country’s regular McDonald’s customers have tried the sandwich this year, according to a regional marketing and communication director, Abdellah Bniaiche, who said harder sales figures weren’t available.

At franchises in Rabat, the sandwich drew decidedly mixed reviews. “It doesn’t work,” said Asma Smeli, 32, as she left a McDonald's in Agdal, one of the capital’s upscale outer neigborhoods. “It’s not really Moroccan. It tastes more Egyptian to me.”

Inside a McDonald’s in downtown Rabat, Laila Alami, 30, said she’s ordered the sandwich frequently since it came out. “It’s not really a tagine, but it’s good,” Alami said. “It’d be better if they spiced it a little bit more."
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/morocco/090825/morocco-loving-the-mcarabia
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