Could a plate of couscous warm up relations between wary North African nations? A drive to win coveted UNESCO status for the dish could at least get them talking around the same table
Africa’s version of ‘hummus wars’
The hearty meal itself however is a bone of contention between countries that haven’t always got along. Who makes it the best? And given that the fluffy semolina can be topped with everything from fish in Tunisia to camel meat in Libya, what truly makes a couscous a couscous? As with the “hummus wars” that have long roiled the Middle East, and West Africa’s furious debate over who makes the best jollof rice, couscous is a source of pride as well as regional divisions
Couscous pots from King Massinissa’s time
The Berbers, an ethnic group spread across the region, were likely the first to rustle up a couscous—“long before the countries of the Maghreb that we know today existed”, French food historian Patrick Rambourg was quoted as saying by AFP
Another food historian, Lucie Bolens, has described primitive couscous pots found in Algeria dating back to the reign of king Massinissa 2,200 years ago. Considered a Berber forefather, Massinissa united what is now northern Algeria with parts of Tunisia and Libya into the ancient kingdom of Numidia
Trouble mid-air
Recently, another controversy over the same dish erupted over Virgin Atlantic’s in-flight meal named ‘Palestinian couscous salad’. They changed the name of the salad after pro-Israel social media users accused them of being terror sympathisers and threatened to boycott the airline