Eating Vietnamese in Morocco

For a long time there has been little chance to eat Vietnamese food in Morocco, unless you cooked it yourself. The few restaurants calling themselves Vietnamese were a far cry from the real thing. Thankfully that may be about to change.

Sapa Market in Vietnam - photo Suzanna Clarke
Nakhli Elgalia has a dream - that of serving Vietnamese food to the over 400-strong Vietnamese community who live and work in Morocco.

With this dream, Elgalia, who left Vietnam 34 years ago, has returned to the country of her origin. Elgalia followed her parents to settle down in Morocco's Kenitra Province when she was seven years old. While her mother is from the northern mountainous province of Yen Bai, her father is from Morocco.

"There are over 400 Vietnamese in Morocco, but only few restaurants serve Vietnamese food," said Elgalia, pointing out that Vietnamese cuisine was only popular during the lunar new year festival.

"Although they do not taste exactly as Vietnamese food, everyone is eager to have them," Elgalia added.

With support from Vietnam's embassy in Morocco and the Vietnamese community, Elgalia decided to return home to learn Vietnamese cooking and open a Vietnamese restaurant in Morocco.

Before coming to Vietnam, a representative at the Vietnamese embassy also asked for her help to serve foreign dignitaries on her return.

As children, Elgalia and her brothers were very much influenced by their mother and learned to speak Vietnamese fluently and eat traditional Vietnamese food on special occasions.

After living away from the country for all these years, she has still retained her touch in Vietnamese language.

It was not only language, says Elgalia, whore remembers her fond meeting with the former National Assembly chairman Nguyen Van An who praised her and her husband for keeping alive the Vietnamese soul in a foreign land.

Now in Vietnam, other than visiting relatives, Elgalia spents most of her time in learning the finer aspects of Vietnamese cooking.

She visits the capital's markets regularly, and learnt to prepare her first dish - the pork meat roll, a favourite among Vietnamese in Morocco, from a food vendor in Hang Ngang Street.

But since people in the predominantly Muslim Morocco do not eat pork, she has learnt to substitute pork with beef and other meat. She has also spent time in the famous 'pho' shops of Hanoi to learn how to cook the dish.

"For many years, many of the Vietnamese in Morocco have not been able to eat 'pho'. Once I return, they will have their favourite dish," she said.

Tags: Morocco Fes, Maghreb news