A FOOD TRADITION

Chaoui Cuisine

Chaoui cuisine is associated with the Chaoui-speaking communities of the Aurès and adjoining eastern highlands, shaped by mountain agriculture, pastoralism, and seasonal movement. Barley and wheat semolina, dates, dried vegetables, pulses, lamb, goat, and fermented milk products are important ingredients, with abundant use of hardy herbs and preserved foods. Characteristic methods include steaming or rolling grains, cooking dense soups and porridges, baking flatbreads, and slow-simmering meat with vegetables. Commonly associated examples include berkoukes, a coarse-grain dish prepared with sauce; chakhchoukha, torn flatbread with stew; and aïch, a grain-based soup or porridge. Recipes vary across the Aurès.

Catalogue preview Cuisine connections may be unreviewed. Regional comparisons include their food references and do not establish the ingredients of a particular meal.