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COULD A PLATE of couscous warm up relations between wary North African nations? A drive to win coveted UNESCO status for the dish could at least get them talking around the same table.
The hearty meal itself however is a bone of contention between countries that haven’t always got along.
Who makes it the best? And given that the fluffy semolina can be topped with everything from fish in Tunisia to camel meat in Libya, what truly makes a couscous a couscous?
As with the “hummus wars” that have long roiled the Middle East, and West Africa’s furious debate over who makes the best jollof rice, couscous is a source of pride as well as regional divisions.
But the countries of North Africa’s Maghreb region may be about to put their differences aside with a joint bid to have the dish added to UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage list.
The list showcases the world’s most precious cultural treasures, with the UN cultural body sometimes offering funding to countries struggling to protect their traditions.
There are as yet few details on the North African bid, but Slimane Hachi, director of Algeria’s prehistoric research centre, said that it would unite Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Libya, Mauritania and Mali.
Berber cuisine?
It will not be the first time UNESCO status has been mooted for couscous, but this time working together could prove the secret ingredient.
In 2016, Algeria announced a solo bid to win protected status for the dish – sparking outrage in Morocco where many feel they hold an equal claim to it.
Even the question of who introduced the basic ingredients to the region is hotly debated, with some crediting the Romans and others saying Arabs brought it in from the east.
French food historian Patrick Rambourg said the Berbers, an ethnic group spread across the region, were likely the first to rustle up a couscous – “long before the countries of the Maghreb that we know today existed”, he told AFP.
Another food historian, Lucie Bolens, has described primitive couscous pots found in Algeria dating back to the reign of king Massinissa 2,200 years ago.
Considered a Berber forefather, Massinissa united what is now northern Algeria with parts of Tunisia and Libya into the ancient kingdom of Numidia.
Rambourg argues the region should celebrate its shared heritage rather than fretting over who really lays the best claim to couscous.
“Its origins are a complicated subject, a slippery slope — and is it really that important?” he said.
For all the countries in the Maghreb, couscous is a part of their identity.
The countries involved will have to come to a common position if they are to mount a successful UNESCO bid, he warned.
“They’d have to show the historic permanency of the dish or its preparation, showing it’s a part of daily life for all the groups constituting a people or a nation and that it’s part of their identity.”
And they should probably downplay the huge diversity between couscouses served up across the region, he advised.
Regional rivalries
Kader Abderrahim, a French researcher at the Institute for European Perspective and Security, said neighbouring rivals Algeria and Morocco might struggle to work together.
“There are such entrenched positions on both sides that it’s very complicated to find areas of agreement, including on a subject that might seem harmless,” he said.
There is so much antagonism that has been built up for 50 years and that has got a lot worse, especially in recent months.
Algiers and Rabat have eyed each other jealously since the 1960s, when Algeria’s new post-independence authorities refused to shift the borders set out under French colonial rule, leaving some areas disputed.
Abderrahim said it was a paradox that the Maghreb “has not succeeded in integrating as a region”, despite “a common culture, a shared history, the same language and religious tradition”.
The Maghreb should be “stronger than Europe which is divided by language and history”, he said.
Fatema Hal, an anthropologist and Paris restauranteur who was born in Morocco, says UNESCO recognition would be a positive step for the region.
“If couscous can help bring them together, all the better,” she said.
But rather than putting all our energy into trying to get a label, we should be doing what’s necessary to preserve our cuisine.
Promoting the region’s cuisine at its own cookery schools – which tend to focus instead on international cuisine – she added would be a good start.
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Hindsight should be this government’s manifesto.
@Will Roche: “Say the line, Bart!” “Lessons were learned.” “Yaaaayyyyyy!”
@JusticeForJoe: I am waiting for them to say, “Sure we are not as bad as the lads next door”
‘said that there was no evidence that they were bought for a celebration for that evening’
Would that picture not stands as evidence?
You and your departments seem to make a lot of mistakes if the job is to big for you resign. It seem you are not running your departments properly and you are only interested in what your E. U. masters to you
Yes you should’ve raised the issue with the Secretary General instead of raising glasses of bubbly
comments section must of been left open by mistake (:(:
Another great witch hunt about to begin fascinating that was not one gathering of journalists anywhere in Ireland during lockdown
So a wonderful virtuous and honourable industry
Or ………..Omerta as was the case with Irelands most famous cocaine snorting DJ
@Jerry Slattery: Holding people in positions of power and influence for valid and proven reasons is not a witch hunt. By your photo I assume you are old enough to remember the days in which Irish politicians routinely and blatantly paraded their indifference and even indignation to being held to account for their own actions (often corrupt). Coveney is no f-o-o-l and he knows this should have been dealt with differently.
@David A. Murray: Holding to account people……
@Jerry Slattery: Oh, won’t somebody please think of the witches! You seem to think the people who make our laws should be free to decide which of those laws they have to obey, themselves. Have I got that right?
Coveney should have become a whistle-blower…lol
These tribunals over nonsense ‘storm-in-a-teacup’ allegations are such a waste of tax payer money and government time when there is much more pressing business like the rising cost of living and housing etc. Seems like when one “scandal” dries up another one rears its head.. I’m all for accountability and standards in public office, but people need to see the big picture and get over it.. Have these public accounts or oireachtas committee appearances or internal investigations ever amounted to anything other than a headline that just fades over time?
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