Is Morocco good for vegans?

I get asked this constantly and the honest answer surprises people: Morocco is genuinely friendly to vegans, more so than many European destinations, because so much of the everyday cooking is plant-based by tradition rather than by trend. Vegetable tagines (think aubergine, courgette, pumpkin, potato, carrot, tomato), couscous with seven vegetables, lentil soups, bessara (broad-bean purée), zaalouk and taktouka (cooked aubergine and pepper salads), olives, fresh bread, nuts, dates and an abundance of fruit — this is the rhythm of Moroccan food, and it's naturally vegan.

That said, I won't pretend there are no traps, and knowing them is the difference between thriving and frustration. The first is hidden animal fat: some tagines and couscous are enriched with smen (fermented butter) or built on a meat or chicken stock even when no meat is visible. The second is the famous harira soup — it usually contains meat or stock. The third is bread and pastries brushed with butter or egg, and the assumption that "vegetarian" automatically means dairy-free, which it doesn't. And honey appears in many sweets and is sometimes drizzled on savoury dishes.

My practical fix is to communicate clearly and warmly. A few key phrases go a long way: "sans beurre" (without butter), "sans viande et sans bouillon de viande" (no meat and no meat stock) in French, which most of the hospitality trade speaks. I tell guests to ask specifically how the vegetable dish is made rather than just whether it has meat. Couscous can be requested with vegetable broth; tagines can be made with olive oil. Moroccan cooks are hospitable and proud — they'll happily accommodate when they understand exactly what you need.

Where you eat shapes the experience. In Marrakech, Fes, Essaouira and the bigger cities there's a growing wave of explicitly vegan and vegetarian restaurants, and riads will almost always prepare a plant-based meal if you give them a day's notice — some of the best vegan food I've eaten in Morocco was a riad dinner cooked just for the guest. Street food offers vegan wins too: grilled corn, roasted chickpeas, fresh olives, msemen (check it's oil not butter), and orange juice. In tiny rural villages your options narrow, so I plan those legs around bread, salad, vegetable couscous and fruit.

My overall verdict: come without anxiety. Pack a couple of snack bars for long travel days, learn your phrases, lean on your riad, and you'll discover that vegan Moroccan food is one of the trip's quiet pleasures rather than a daily battle. Tell us when you book and we'll brief every kitchen on your route in advance.