What should I know about Moroccan hospitality?

You should know, first, that hospitality here isn't a nicety — it's close to a sacred duty. There's a deep cultural and religious thread that treats a guest as a gift, and you'll feel it constantly: the riad host who insists on tea the moment you arrive, the family who waves you in from a village lane, the stranger who walks you to your destination and refuses payment. The standing greeting is the endless glasses of sweet mint tea, poured from a height, offered again and again. Accepting graciously is how you honour the gesture; a flat refusal can quietly hurt feelings.

If you're lucky enough to be invited into a home — and it happens more than you'd think — a few graces go a long way. Bring a small gift: pastries, fruit, dates, sugar, or something from your own country travels beautifully. Remove your shoes if you see others have. Eat with your right hand, since the left is traditionally considered unclean, and if you're sharing a communal tagine, take from the wedge of the dish directly in front of you rather than reaching across. Compliment the food warmly and often — the cook, frequently the woman of the house, has worked hard, and praise is the proper currency.

It helps to understand the rhythm of a hosted meal so you can pace yourself. Food arrives in waves and there is always more than anyone could eat, because abundance signals respect. You'll be urged to take more — repeatedly — and a gentle "it's delicious, but I'm truly full, thank you" said with a hand on your heart is understood and accepted. Leaving a little on your plate is fine; cleaning it can be read as "I'm still hungry" and trigger another helping. Bread is sacred, used as a utensil, and never wasted or placed upside down.

The crucial distinction for visitors is between genuine hospitality and the commercial warmth of the tourist trail. A shopkeeper offering tea while you browse is being hospitable and hoping for a sale — both can be true, and there's nothing sinister in it; just remember tea is not a contract. The unpaid, unprompted kindness of ordinary Moroccans, on the other hand, asks for nothing at all and is one of the most moving things about travelling here. Receive it with warmth, a few words of Arabic, and the same generosity of spirit, and you'll experience the country at its very best.