A Maghreb dish associated with Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia, couscous is also a Libyan affair. After half a century of dictatorship and chaos, Libyans aspire to international recognition for their gastronomic and cultural heritage.
On the site of the ancient Roman theater of Sabratha, about 70 kilometers west of the capital Tripoli, dozens of cooks are busy: in a few hours, they will present to the public a giant couscous, a Berber specialty cooked throughout North Africa.
In huge stainless steel pots, others continue to stir the semolina reddened by the tomato sauce and heap the ingredients already ready in large plates covered with aluminum foil.
On a dish four meters in diameter, we then pour the nearly 2,400 kilograms of semolina, mutton, pumpkin, and, above all, the essential “bossla”, these onions candied in clarified butter.
Families gather happily around the giant dish, guarded by police, while young people film the scene with their phones.
Wearing a black coat and a red veil, Ahlam Fakhri, from Tripoli, is delighted to see Libyans coming together, in a context of political tensions and after the armed violence following the fall and death of dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.
“I come from a village known for its couscous, which you can smell for miles around”, boasts this woman doctor who has traveled a lot.
“Heritage not protected”
“The whole of the Maghreb is famous for its couscous, which distinguishes us from the Arab East”, she boasts: “It is part of our identity, our culture, our heritage and we are proud of it”.
However, Libya is the only Maghreb country not included in the couscous traditions listed since 2020 as UNESCO’s intangible cultural heritage. The reason: the State has not adhered to this UN convention.
So on the ground, civil society is mobilizing through various initiatives to “advance the file by putting pressure” on the authorities, mired in a serious political crisis in this country divided between rival camps.
With his association intended to support tourism and preserve heritage, Ali Messaoud Al-Ftimi organizes a giant couscous every year on a historic site, to send “a message to Parliament”.
“Adhering to this convention will not only preserve couscous, Libya is rich in culture and heritage and this heritage is not protected”, regrets the 54-year-old association activist.
The giant couscous, like the national day of traditional clothing and other initiatives, is the fruit of “a popular impulse”, he said, hoping that parliamentarians will ratify the international convention “in the near future”.
“More than a dish”
Libya could thus join Mauritania, Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia on the couscous file “because registration does not mean definitive ownership or exclusivity” by one or more countries, assures Unesco.
In Tripoli, Monira Zwait says she hopes so with all her heart. This 43-year-old chef has opened her own restaurant in the capital, sharing on Facebook and YouTube her pastry creations inspired by current trends. But couscous remains a “red line”: it scrupulously respects the traditional recipe.
Libyan golden embroidery on her white chef’s uniform, she prepares her favorite dish by pouring a pinch of salt, a little chili powder and a little touch of cinnamon which will leave a sweet aftertaste.
“Couscous is not just a dish that we eat, it is the mirror of a civilization and a know-how transmitted from generation to generation”, insists Monira Zwait, initiated very young by her mother.
Very attached to heritage, she defends it in the “simplest” way, by continuing to cook traditional dishes. Food “speaks to everyone”, she says, because it sends us back to an experience “both collective and intimate”.
