Algerian cuisine is probably one of the richest and most elaborate cuisines in Africa, mainly combining typical dishes of Maghreb culture with influences from French cuisine, not forgetting some typically sub-Saharan flavours. The result is a wide variety of regional dishes, to be experienced as part of the travel experience, in a real adventure for the taste buds as well.
Let’s start with the drinks.
The typical drink, needless to say, is the famous mint tea. Typical of the desert regions and nomadic or Arab cultures in general, it is served in every café in the country and in every corner of the desert there will be an opportunity to sip it.
Served in small glass jars, it is an integral part of the local tradition, which follows a real ritual in preparing and serving it. It is boiled and simmered three times in small metal teapots, and after careful oxygenation to form the foam, it is served three times, with three different gradations of taste, from the most bitter to the lightest and sweetest. The nights in the desert under the stars and around the crackling fire are imperatively marked by the three small glasses of tea before retiring to the tent.
A drink that is often served in typical restaurants is lben made from fermented milk.
International drinks can be found everywhere, so for Coca Cola supporters, no worries! However, if you want to consume a “zero kilometre” drink, we recommend Hamoud Boualem lemon soda, a very good Algerian-made carbonated lemonade. Alcoholic beverages are not forbidden in this secular country, although it is strongly Muslim. However, they can only be found in some large markets in the main northern cities and in some restaurants or luxury hotels. In the south of the country, it is very difficult to find them and they are very expensive. For those who can’t do without them, we recommend buying them for personal consumption at the duty free shop at the airport of departure. Generally, they are tolerant of liquids in hand luggage on domestic flights, but in order to avoid problems, it is sufficient to put the bottle in your suitcase with the necessary precautions before checking in for your domestic flight.
Listing or describing typical dishes is a difficult task, so we’ll just mention the must-haves of Algerian cuisine.
Certainly in the capital, in addition to a wide variety of restaurants serving excellent fresh fish, you should try street food, which is not sold by street hawkers but in small local boulangeries or pseudo fast food outlets.
There’s nothing better than strolling through the alleyways of Algiers’ kasbah, savouring a mhadjeb, a kind of semolina flatbread without yeast, grilled and stuffed to taste (usually with tomato sauce, tuna and harissa, the very spicy chilli sauce).
In Algeria, it is essential to start the meal with chorba, a typical soup made with broken wheat. It can be found in all types of restaurants and in the middle of the desert it will never fail to warm you up under the stars. All Algerian chefs are great experts and will offer it in many types.
Needless to say, one of the national dishes is couscous, made with vegetables, meat or fish, or the taboulé variant, made with salad and seasoned as desired, although the typical Algerian variant is with broad beans and peas, the mesfouf bel foul.
Sheep meat is the most widely consumed in Algerian cuisine, especially in the south. Mechoui, roast mutton or lamb, is a typical dish throughout the Maghreb culture and also in the nomadic cultures of Sahel-Saharan Africa.
A typical dish not to be missed is chakchouka, a vegetable and tomato stew in which a kind of bread pastry, similar to the Sardinian pane carasau, is dipped and accompanied by a poached egg or large pieces of meat.
The place of honour goes to the taghella, the traditional bread of the nomads, an unleavened flatbread baked in the sand. When fresh foodstuffs become scarce in the last days of our stay in the desert, the inventive Tuareg will surprise us by baking this delicacy with little effort and then crumbling it while still steaming in a hot vegetable soup.
Desserts are typical of Arabian culture, with dry pastries made of almond paste or honey and pistachio pastries. And, of course, at the end of every meal, there will never be a shortage of sweet dates and a good mint tea.