Meals from the Maghreb: North African Ingredients at Local Farmers Markets

Photos by Michael Piazza

When he was a child, Adil Zihri won competitions in his home city of Essaouira, Morocco, for seasoning olives. It was a neighborhood tradition that had originally grown out of the neighborhood bustle of children and parents. Using his mother’s recipe, he put together a mix of dried herbs, spices and olives that, when matched up against the olives of the other children in his neighborhood, won over the judges. Today, his burgeoning business, Olive World, uses that same recipe to bring meaty green olives, fruity olive oil, dark earthy tapenades and more to Boston-area farmers markets, where Zihri greets customers with a hearty “Welcome to my world!”

Zihri isn’t alone in bringing North African flavors to Boston-area farmers markets. By drawing on community networks and their own expertise, a new wave of North African chefs and entrepreneurs are using farmers markets to showcase their foodways to the Boston area and beyond.

Adil Zahiri

While New England has been home to Syrian, Lebanese, Armenian and Palestinian immigrants dating back to the early 20th century, the metropolitan Boston area more recently has seen waves of immigration from North Africa. Everett, Revere, Malden and Quincy, as well as townships farther south of Boston, in particular, have significant North African diaspora communities.

However, the Northeast is still just beginning to learn about the foodways of Algeria, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia, collectively referred to as North Africa or the Maghreb, a term that translates to “that which is west.” North African cuisine is distinct from the foods of the Mashriq, or “that which is east”: the Middle East. Oftentimes, because of the sheer gastronomic diversity within the regions themselves, the distinction between the cuisines of the two regions is made by way of their preferred starches: North Africa favors couscous, whereas the Middle East has more riceheavy cuisines. While a plethora of Middle Eastern restaurants span the Boston area, North African cuisine is much more difficult to find, with the exception of locales in Malden, Revere and Everett, which are home not only to small restaurants and bakeries serving their communities, but convenience stores that stock up on North African snacks and other products to supply working North Africans with the comforts of home.

Fatiha Soufan immigrated to the United States from Morocco in 1993 and started a restaurant in Marshfield. The business eventually closed and she decided to go to culinary school in the area, studying international cuisine. In 2016, towards the end of her time as a student, she suggested to a classmate that they should start selling cookies at farmers markets. Soufan approached the Marshfield farmers market: They certified her kitchen and approved her for the market.

Soufan put together a selection of American classics, like chocolate chip and oatmeal cookies, cakes, buns and baklava, along with gluten-free and vegan options; the response was overwhelming and Soufan turned a profit on the first day. The manager of the market approached Soufan and encouraged her to bring her own culture into the mix, noting that vendors just starting out at farmers markets tend to bring similar baked goods. Since Soufan was from Morocco, could she come up with something else, to set her apart? “Some people [I know] asked why [the manager] should interfere in my business, but I was open to the advice. As we say in Arabic, rizq—livelihood, sustenance—can come from anywhere,” she says, laughing.

Fatiha Soufan

Soufan then made samples of tabbouleh, marinated olives and preserved lemons, which she still sells today. The products were a standout at the farmers market and she was eventually featured in local newspapers and radio stations. She began to develop a rotation of products, drawing not only on Moroccan cuisine, but on her husband’s Lebanese heritage: she now sells beet and red pepper hummus, complete with different pita chips options. Soufan’s Moroccan and Lebanese offerings grew to include hareera, a tomato soup with fresh cilantro and parsley in its base, and feteer, a type of baked turnover from Lebanon, Palestine and Syria, which can be stuffed with spinach. As the business expanded, Soufan utilized the resources she’d used to build her other businesses prior to culinary school. Her business, which she runs with the support of her family, is now Casba Catering, a fixture at Boston-area markets, including the Copley Square Farmers Market.

Zihri was also working in proximity to the food industry when he began to think of the business that would come to be Olive World. After coming to the U.S. for his education, eventually studying for a PhD in neuropsychology, Zihri worked in human resources at a supermarket chain. Although he is proud of the work he did in an essential industry during the COVID-19 pandemic, it began to take a toll on his stress levels. He found himself wanting to do something more entrepreneurial, but still in the food sector. Unlike Soufan, Zihri didn’t start with farmers markets in mind. Instead, the idea came to him when he was having a snack of olives. He had bought the olives—Moroccan olives—and seasoned them himself using his mother’s recipes. While popping them into his mouth—in his own words, ‘like popcorn’—he realized he could introduce the Boston-area public to Moroccan olives.

While Soufan used her pre-existing relationships with wholesalers to bring in products she couldn’t make at home, like olives and olive oil, Zihri’s first step was to pursue wholesalers through his own networks, namely in the North African community in Malden, Everett and Revere. He had a friend who was an importer-exporter selling to convenience stores in the area, specializing in Moroccan and Algerian products; he also received additional contacts from convenience store owners themselves. Zihri went through community networks because he specifically wanted Moroccan olives. “I want to share the olives that I grew up knowing, not ones I wasn’t familiar with.”

Zihri asked for the minimum amount he could order. Initially, he had a hard time actually getting the products he requested. He felt the wholesalers didn’t take his aspiration to run a business seriously. After realizing that sourcing Moroccan olives directly from Moroccan farms would be too expensive, he turned to a restaurant supply business to try working with Greek olives, who supplied him with a pallet: Using locally sourced spices and herbs, Zihri began to finetune his recipe. It was then that, recognizing how committed he was, the brokers dealing with Moroccan olives began to source a steady supply of olives for Zihri to work with. Needing little more than a table to mix his olives with his seasoning of herbs, spices and olive oil, Zihri began renting out space in early 2022 at Boston’s Foundation Kitchen to prepare his olives. It was through Foundation Kitchen that he discovered the Boston-area farmers market circuit. He applied to the Egleston Farmers Market and, due to the positive reception he received there, pursued other farmers market opportunities as they came his way.

If anything, farmers markets have gone beyond giving Casba and Olive World a strong customer base; they’re critical to the product development process, as Zihri and Soufan fold customer feedback into what they’re developing, as well as their own observations about farmers markets. Soufan takes it beyond simply offering up Moroccan cuisine that falls in line with what farmers market audiences might perceive as healthy. Instead, she also tweaks recipes so she can market them as healthy options.

One such example is shabakiyya, a Moroccan pastry made of short strips of dough nestled together then deep-fried before being soaked in syrup. Soufan added it to her farmers market lineup in 2022. As with the rest of her products, the shabakiyya—which is not a fixture on most Middle Eastern or even many North African menus—has been a success with her customers and has Soufan thinking of what else she can add to the menu. Zihri has also made the association between the farmers market and health. Recognizing the market visibility of Argan oil, he recently added Amlou to his lineup: It’s his own combination of Argan oil and almond butter, producing a paste. “I tell customers it’s their new peanut butter!”

Reception to both Casba and Olive World has been overwhelmingly positive; Soufan even says that 99% of the interactions she has with customers are positive. Zihri and Soufan are both very aware that going to farmers markets means they’re selling Moroccan food to people who’ve likely never had it before. In Zihri’s case, many also have not realized that Morocco has a long history of olive cultivation, dating back to the Roman colonization of North Africa. Soufan and Zihri are both enthusiastic about their work as food educators, meeting each customer where they are. Soufan even named her business ‘Casba’ because the Arabic term refers to the stronghold of a city. She explains, “We protect the food culture by spreading it further.”

For now, Casba and Olive World will remain fixtures at Boston-area farmers markets. In 2023, Casba will be at the Braintree and Copley farmers markets, among others. Olive World will be selling at the Egleston Farmers Market and hopes to be at Copley Square, Prospect Street, Lexington, Davis Square, Union Square, Roslindale, Swampscott, SOWA, and a few more. Soufan and Zihri both see their products growing beyond the farmers market, maybe being sold in local supermarkets and other businesses. But they’re also thinking bigger. Soufan has a twinkle in her eye when asked about potential growth. “I don’t want to spoil the surprise.”

You can contact Fatiha Soufan for catering orders at casbacatering@gmail.com.
You can order Adil Zihri’s olives, olive oil and more online at Olivewrld.com.

This story appeared in the Spring 2023 issue.