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Home » Podcast Episodes

112 Tunisia, Couscous, and The Oula Ceremony with Elyes Taleb

Last Modified: Oct 10, 2023 · This post may contain affiliate links

Quick question: Could you name 5 facts about Tunisia or Tunisian cuisine? I sure couldn’t, before this episode, and to be 100% honest, as embarrassing as this is, I’m not sure i would have accurately located it on a map!

A few weeks ago, I shared a recipe from a guest that was named after Tunisia. I felt uncomfortable sharing this recipe, because the guest wasn’t Tunisian, and I couldn’t verify if the recipe had any real basis in authentic Tunisian cuisine. In the end, I kept the name, but asked in the blog post that if any Tunisian read the post, he or she would reach out and educate me about Tunisian culture!

Well, Elyes Taleb, a native Tunisian who now lives in Paris with his wife and baby son, found that post. He was so kind and generous to reach out to me and offer to share more about the culture and cuisine of his country. At his suggestion, we focus the conversation around Oula, a harvest ceremony celebrated in the north of Tunisia in mid to late summer. At this ceremony, the women prepare provisions for the winter months, especially couscous. The high point of this tradition is the lunch they prepare from the newly formed and preserved couscous. So not only has Elyes taught me about this history, culture, and cuisine of Tunisia, he has also taught me that we’ve been cooking couscous all wrong all these years! 

Highlights

  • Is a Tunisian Orange Cake really Tunisian?
  • The Mahgreb & the Berber people group
  • North African - and specifically - Tunisian cuisine
  • Tunisian & Italy
  • Geographic regions in Tunisia
  • How to make couscous
  • The Oula ceremony of preparing coucous
  • Steaming couscous 3 times

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dark and moody photo of Becky Hadeed kneading arepas dough

Welcome, Friend!

I’m Becky Hadeed, a mother to 4, curious home cook, lover of extraordinary light, and host of The Storied Recipe Podcast. I consider it a great honor that my guests entrust me with their stories and allow me photograph and share their most treasured family recipes.

More About Me ->

Most Popular Recipes

  • two slices of chewy golden nian gao on pink plate
    Baked Nian Gao: Glutinous Rice Cake (with Sticky Rice Flour)
  • hand holds flaky spiraled roti paratha (aka roti canai in malaysia) above lush green foliage.
    How to Make Flaky Roti Paratha (Malaysian Roti Canai)
  • pollo frito puerto rican fried chicken with no flour in basket lined with red checked napkin
    Pollo Frito: Puerto Rican Fried Chicken (Without Flour)
  • delicate white dish holds fish cooked in tomato sauce, topped with gently caramelized onons, dill and parsley
    Ukrainian Red Fish in Tomato Sauce

Follow in Your Favorite Player

Apple PodcastsSpotifyGoogle Podcasts

Listen to the Latest

Featured Episodes

  • 058 "I Wanted Something Different" with Juan Salazar of La Coop Coffee
  • 022 "I am Piotr's Granddaughter" with Lydia Cottrell
  • 019 "We Were Not Leprosy" with Suwanee Lennon
  • 077 Arabic Feasts with My Husband, John Hadeed
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