Food in Settat

Settat is the capital of the Chaouia, the broad, fertile agricultural plain that stretches inland from Casablanca. This is one of Morocco's breadbaskets -- a landscape of wheat and barley fields, olive groves, orchards and grazing land -- and Settat is its market and university town, a busy, workaday place that most travellers pass through on the road south from Casablanca to Marrakech. Its food is farm-country food: grilled meat, cured olives, good bread and the honest cooking of a region that grows much of what the big cities eat.

Because the Chaouia is grain and livestock country, Settat's table leans toward meat and bread. Grilled lamb and beef, kefta skewers and rotisserie chicken are everyday staples, and the plains supply the wheat for the semolina bread that accompanies every meal. Olives and olive oil from local groves are a point of regional pride, cured and cracked in many styles. Tagines and couscous follow the classic Moroccan template, made with vegetables and pulses from the surrounding farms. It is unshowy, generous cooking, the food of a productive agricultural heartland rather than a tourist destination.

Settat rewards the traveller who treats it as a real Moroccan market town. Its weekly souk brings in produce, livestock and olives from across the Chaouia, its grill houses serve fresh, cheap meat, and its cafes fill with students from the local university. Stop here on the long drive between Casablanca and Marrakech, and you get an honest taste of the farm country that feeds much of central Morocco.

Signature dishes of Settat

These are the dishes that define Settat's food identity -- the plates that locals are proud of and visitors should seek out.

Where to eat in Settat

Every city has its food neighbourhoods -- the streets, quarters and markets where locals eat and where you should too.

The cooking identity of Settat

Settat cooks the food of the Chaouia plains: grain, meat and olives. As a wheat-and-barley heartland, it leans on excellent semolina bread and on grilled and roasted meat from the surrounding grazing lands -- lamb, beef, kefta and chicken cooked simply over charcoal with cumin and salt. Olives and olive oil from local groves feature at every table, cured in many styles. Tagines and couscous follow the classic central-Moroccan template, made with vegetables and pulses grown right there in the plain. It is farm-country cooking: hearty, generous and unpretentious, built on the abundance of one of Morocco's most productive agricultural regions rather than on tourist polish.

Market guide

Settat's souk is a farm-country market. The weekly market and the central souk bring in the produce of the Chaouia -- grains, vegetables, pulses, orchard fruit and, above all, olives and olive oil in many cured styles -- along with livestock traded by farmers from across the plain. Grill houses and butchers supply the region's fresh meat, and traditional bakeries turn out the semolina bread the grain country is known for. Look for local olives and olive oil as the standout things to buy. As a working inland town rather than a tourist stop, Settat trades largely in cash, so carry small notes for the market.

Best time to visit for food

Spring and autumn for mild weather and the fullest markets; the olive harvest in late autumn is a good time for local oil and cured olives.

Food tips for Settat

• Eat at a grill house for fresh, cheap lamb, beef or kefta from the surrounding farms.
• Buy local olives and olive oil, a genuine specialty of the Chaouia plains.
• Time a visit for the weekly souk to see the region's produce and livestock trade.
• Break the Casablanca-to-Marrakech drive here for an honest, inexpensive lunch.
• Try the region's semolina country bread, a product of its wheat fields.
• Carry cash in small notes; this working town has limited card acceptance outside the centre.