Is Morocco good for vegetarian and vegan travellers as a lifestyle?

As Serenity's culinary designer I get genuinely excited about this question, because Moroccan cooking is far kinder to vegetarians than people expect. The cuisine is built on vegetables, pulses and grains long before you get to meat. A vegetable tagine, slow-cooked with carrots, courgettes, potato, tomato and a whisper of cinnamon and saffron, is a staple in its own right; so is a steaming plate of couscous crowned with seven vegetables, traditionally eaten on Fridays. Add lentil soups, the chickpea-and-lentil harira, zaalouk (smoked aubergine salad), taktouka (peppers and tomato), fresh khobz bread, olives, dates and the most fragrant produce you will ever taste, and a vegetarian eats wonderfully here.

Vegans need a little more vigilance, and I will be honest about the trip-wires so you are not caught out. The main ones are hidden butter and eggs — pastries and some breads use them, a vegetable tagine is occasionally enriched with smen (preserved butter), and that golden harira sometimes has a meat or bone base. Honey turns up in sweets and the famous breakfast pancakes. None of this is insurmountable; it just means asking, and the asking is easy once you know how. A vegan can absolutely thrive here, especially built around the naturally plant-based dishes the country already loves.

The phrase that changes everything is "bla lham, bla djaj" — without meat, without chicken — and for vegans I add a note about butter, eggs and honey. Moroccan hosts are deeply hospitable and take pride in feeding you well, so a clear, friendly heads-up is met with enthusiasm rather than annoyance; cooks will happily steer you to or adapt a dish. When I plan culinary trips I brief riads and cooks in advance, and I love arranging a vegetarian cooking class where guests learn to make their own tagine from the souk's vegetables — it becomes the meal they recreate at home.

My honest framing: as a lifestyle vegetarian you will eat richly and easily across Morocco, often better than carnivores expect. As a vegan you will eat very well too, with the small ongoing job of asking about butter, eggs and honey and leaning on the plant-based classics. Stick to home-style cooking, markets, and riads briefed ahead, tell us your needs when we plan, and the food becomes one of the best parts of your trip rather than a daily negotiation.