Cous Cous With a Lump of Beef

Being a vegetarian in Morocco has it's special challenges.  People really can not comprehend that I do not eat meat. They will say, "How about just a little chicken?" or "You can just eat the sandwich and take out the meat?" La, la, la(no, no, no) Morocco!

Yesterday my student took me for couscous at the La Grillarde. After my food experiences, I try to eat at home and do some nice cooking because there is usually some problem mainly in the French restaurants.  The Moroccans love, love, love their meat!

The thing with cous cous is that each and everytime I have eaten it or seen it-it is loaded with vegetables-turnip, zucchini, carrot, butternut squash, raisins, broth, and chickpeas.  This creation is perfect and does not even need meat because the chickpeas provide protein.

With Benji, I place my order and clearly say, “No meat” in French and Benji also says “no meat.”  After a long wait, the cous cous comes out with a big lump of fattening beef on it with pieces stringed through the broth.  Of course, I am annoyed that they did this again.  The waiter comes back and says he did not want to waste the extra meat so he thought it would be best for him to take my meat. 

NO MEAT WITH THE COUS COUS MOROCCO

Please I understand this is out of the norms as Moroccans love their cous cous and meat, but please just listen to the request the first time or say, “No we can not do that.” No more lumps of meat in the cous cous, 7 legume cous cous is the best and only way to go!