Tunisia: The Taste & History of the Southern Mediterranean

Tunisia had long been high on my list of countries to visit.

Sbeitla, Tunisia
Source: Photographymatch.com

Africa’s northernmost country may also be one of its smallest (approximately the size of Wisconsin), but it is impressively big on history. It was the site of mighty Carthage, Republican Rome’s enemy for three fierce wars--the Punic Wars--that ultimately established Rome’s dominance in the Mediterranean. As a trained classicist, I wanted to tour Carthage’s rocky remains, as well as the nearly intact Roman cities of Dougga, Bulla Regia, and Sbeitla, that surpass Pompeii and Ostia in their grandeur. And there’s the amphitheater of El Djem that is more awesome than the Colosseum.


Grand Mosque in Sousse
Source: girlsoloinarabia.typepad.com

 It’s not just the Greco-Roman world that is woven into the rich texture of Tunisia’s past. It was from Sousse that the Aghlabids, a dynasty of Arab emirs, launched their attack against Sicily in 827 A.D. Sousse, A UNESCO World Heritage City renown for its beaches, exquisite Roman mosaics, and 9th-century mosque, served as the port of Kairouan, the fourth most holy city for Muslims, after Jerusalem, Mecca, and Medina. On the enchanting island of Djerba is the ancient El Ghriba Synagogue, a pilgrim destination after Passover. If you follow the Force more than one of these major monotheistic religions, Tunisia is a must-see destination since several key scenes from Star Wars were filmed in its romantic desserts and troglodyte dwellings.
History and culture were what brought me to Tunisia, on an independent three-week trip in the summer 2003, but it was its food that surprisingly delighted me. It was familiarly Mediterranean, but with beguiling, sun-kissed twists. There was exceptional olive oil (Tunisia is one of the world’s largest producers), capers, olives, tomatoes, fish, peppers, and chickpeas, and pasta, but all prepared in novel ways. One example is leblebi, a hearty breakfast soup made with a chickpea broth, flavored with capers and cumin, thickened with stale bread, and laden with whole chickpeas. It is also rich with olive oil and a freshly broken egg and spicy from the addition of harissa, a fiery paste that is almost as ubiquitous as ketchup.


Ojja - A traditional Tunisian dish with scrambled eggs & harissa

 What truly distinguishes Tunisian cuisine from those of its North African neighbors and the European countries to the north is its heat. The chief source of the spiciness comes from harissa, which can be mixed into dishes, such as a bowl of pasta with a tomato sauce and chunks of potatoes, or put on a plate and drizzled with olive oil, to be daringly scooped up with slices of baguette before the main meal. Even dishes made with couscous, a pasta shape so small and knobby that it resembles a grain, can be on the spicy side; you won’t find this in Morocco.
There are also certain dishes and flavorings that you can’t find anywhere else. The classic is briq, a crispy triangle of paper-thin dough, stuffed with a runny egg and some tuna and capers or with potatoes, and deep fried. This became one of my favorite things to eat in Tunisia and it’s a dish that makes Tunisians abroad yearn for home. A spice blend unique to Tunisia is tabil, the specific spices of which change depending on who is making it. In a recipe to make tabil at home, the cookbook author Paula Wolfert provides a list of the following ingredients: coriander seeds, caraway seeds, garlic powder, ground red pepper, fennel seeds, anise seeds, cumin, turmeric, and black pepper.

If Tunisia is not in your travel plans, you can get a taste of sunny Tunisia at Sickles. Les Moulins Mahjoub offers an exquisite, “haute couture” line of products, which are the result of organic farming and traditional production methods. Favorites for us in the cheese department include the textured couscous, extra virgin olive oil to drizzle on burrata, mountain capers, bitter orange marmalade to pair with goat cheeses, delicate artichoke petals, and, of course, harissa, either sweet or spicy, that you can use for about anything.
And if you need an additional reason to make the trip to North Africa, here’s one from the owner of Les Moulins Mahjoub, whom I recently saw when he paid a trip to Sickles last Wednesday. When I asked him why Americans should travel to Tunisia, he replied that Americas know well the northern side of the Mediterranean and that it’s now time to explore the southern Mediterranean.
I couldn’t agree with him more.

bil-hanā' wa ash-shifā' (Bon Appetit!)
Diana Pittet, the traveling cheesemonger