1500 Loaves

Tétouan // Morocco

By Lauren di Matteo

Cookies. Nine in the morning, and we’re on the hunt for cookies. Moroccans, from what I gathered, didn’t do mornings. As we meandered along the nearly vacant and uneven medina streets, we happened upon a tiny bakery storefront just inside one of the seven gates of the ‘old walled city’ of Tétouan. There they were—stacks and stacks and stacks of them—powered sugar dusted pillows of goodness piled high on silver platters. Ascending the steps, I peered into the dark, cave-like shop and a woman approached me rapidly, wagging her finger back and forth enthusiastically. I gathered they weren’t quite ready for customers.

As I began my retreat, laughter rumbled from the back of the bakery and instantly, my curiosity was piqued. My American friend, Rachel, instinctively took the helm addressing the woman in perfectly delivered Moroccan Arabic, and seconds later we were ushered into the dimly-lit kitchen. Brothers Lahassan and Ahmed, and their uncle, Alami, who were all elbow deep in dusty dough and nearing the halfway point of their eight-hour shift, welcomed us jovially.

Introductions were made, then translated both ways, and before my eyes could complete a routine sweep of the room, I was immediately drawn to the warm and intensely orange glow emanating from a small opening in the bakery’s crumbling wall. Lahassan intercepted my fascination by explaining the history of the wood-burning oven, which dates back to before the Spanish Occupation of Morocco in 1912.

Operations begin every morning at 4:30 when the oven is fired up and the three work swiftly to prepare enough dough to bake 1500 Spanish-style baguettes. Shorter and more airy than the typical French baguette, these perfectly crisp loaves are then distributed throughout the community. Countless kiosks, corner stores, and restaurant countertops receive their delivery of bread via hand-pushed wooden carts, which are piled high daily with the fruit of just one family’s labor.