One Deciding Race and the Moroccan Tagine

Morocco hosted a single World Championship Grand Prix, the 1958 season finale, and its cooking brings together Berber, Arab, Andalusi and African traditions.

Morocco's place in World Championship history comes down to a single October day. The Moroccan Grand Prix was held only once, on 19 October 1958 at the Ain Diab circuit, as the eleventh and final round of the season. Stirling Moss won and set the fastest lap for Vanwall, while Mike Hawthorn started from pole. Hawthorn left as world champion and Vanwall took the constructors' title, so one race settled a great deal.

No Moroccan driver appears in our records, and no championship round has returned to the country since that day.

Moroccan cooking brings together Berber, Arab and Andalusi traditions with Mediterranean and African ones, while French and Spanish influence is only light. Couscous, which food historians trace to the Berbers of Morocco and Algeria, is the dish most people know, and wheat and rice are the staple grains. Lamb is the favorite meat, usually cooked in a tagine with vegetables and with ginger, cinnamon, cumin and saffron. Characteristic flavors include preserved lemon, argan oil, olive oil, dried fruit and smen, a preserved butter, and bread, much of it made from durum wheat semolina, comes with every meal.

A typical lunch opens with a spread of hot and cold salads, zaalouk of aubergine and tomato among them, before a tagine and perhaps couscous with meat and vegetables, eaten with the hands and bread. Harira, a hearty soup, warms winter evenings and breaks the fast during Ramadan alongside dates. Mint tea, atay, is poured from a height into small glasses and shared daily with family and friends; the height is part of the ritual. Street stalls, meanwhile, serve snails in their broth.

A taste of Morocco

• Djaj mqualli, Chicken tagine with preserved lemon and olives
• Harira, Moroccan tomato, lentil and chickpea soup
• Brochettes de kefta, Spiced minced lamb skewers
• Maakouda, Spiced Moroccan potato fritters
• Couscous bidaoui, Casablanca couscous with lamb and seven vegetables
• Sardines mzouwja, Fried sardines sandwiched with herb chermoula
• Atay, Moroccan mint tea
• Sharbat bil looz, Almond milk with orange blossom water
• Ghriba bahla, Crackled semolina and sesame shortbread cookies

Circuits

• Ain Diab Circuit

Drivers