Mint tea

Couscous, a semolina-like pasta made from cracked wheat, is a staple food in Algeria and throughout North Africa. It is a versatile starch that goes equally well with meat, fish, vegetables, or sweet dishes. Rice is also a popular staple, and chickpea-cakes make a cheap and tasty accompaniment for food. Pizza, fried chicken, and potato fries are popular among younger Algerians.

Traditional Algerian food shows the historic influences of Berber, Arab, Turkish, and French tastes. It can be mild or very spicy and many flavourings are used, including cumin, coriander, paprika, cinnamon, mint, and fennel.

Stews like shakshuka, with vegetables, and tajine, with lamb or chicken, are popular everyday dishes. Meat dishes are often prepared with some of the many different fruits grown in fertile parts of Algeria. Sugar or honey can be added to savoury dishes to create a sweet-and-sour taste.

As in much of North Africa and the Middle East, refreshing, golden-coloured mint tea and strong, sweet coffee (sometimes called Turkish coffee) are drunk wherever people gather to talk and relax. Lively pavement-cafés, central to social life in Algerian towns and cities, are another legacy of French rule.

The traditional diet of desert nomads is based on couscous and the meat of the sheep or goats they herd. When travelling, desert people carry pressed dates or figs, and hard cheese, which keeps for a long time. Flat, unleavened (yeastless) bread can be baked in the hot embers of camp-fires. Hot, sugary mint tea quenches thirst and boosts energy.

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Photo by James Hawkins/Oxfam