Azday, Gathering Stories of Food - Eldam

Photo by Bashir Nannis

In the extreme North West of Libya lives the Amazigh community of At Willul. The At Willul have inhabited the area surrounding the city of Zuwara for centuries. Yet, despite their historic roots, much of their history and culture has gone unrecorded. Sadly, this is particularly evidenced by the minimal amount of sources in existence preserving their culinary heritage.  

To ensure the preservation of At Willul dishes, culinary traditions, and mythologies, 15 Amazigh elders were asked to reflect upon these topics. The story you are about to read is one of the traditions they recounted. 

The Amazigh people are distinguished by the multitude of their dishes. Couscous, ‘ⴽⵙⴽⵙⵓ’ is one of the Amazigh staple foods, consisting of small grains made out of wheat. The word Couscous traces its roots to the Tamazight language and it is derived from the phrase meaning ‘small pieces’ or ‘well rounded’. Couscous serves as the base for a variety of dishes, also known as couscous.

Stew in Tamazight is called Eldam. It is the sauce that the ingredients are cooked in. Every dish featuring couscous will be prepared with a stew.  There are a wide variety of advantages that come when cooking with stew. It allows the person preparing the dish to use lesser and more affordable cuts of meat as the process of cooking in stew tenderizes the meat. As stews are always composed of a variety of vegetables and spices, more expensive ingredients, such as meat, can be stretched several meals by adding more vegetables. Finally, small pieces of meat cook faster and one-pot cooking conserves fuel and makes cleanup easier. 

As a constant element of couscous dishes, stew is considered a blessing. In ancient At Willul traditions, people would douse the cooking fire with a ladle of stew as an offering in case the spirits of their ancestors came to visit the home where the meal was being prepared. This was a way to show the ancestors that their descendants were living a good and affluent life.

This story is part of Azday ‘ⴰⵣⴷⴰⵢ ‘ project, an effort to document the culinary heritage of the At Willul. You can find the recipe of Boulettout and more stories of Amazigh culinary heritage in the Azday booklet.

Azday project is funded by the British Council’s Cultural Protection Fund, in partnership with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. The project is conducted in partnership with the At Wellol Movement.