Learn Tunisia before you go

10 phrases to learn

In Tunisian Arabic (Derja). Capital letters show the stressed part. Tap the heart to practise a phrase later.

At the table

• Bread, olive oil and harissa are put on the table at the start of almost every meal: tear off a piece of bread, dip it in the oil and then, carefully, in the harissa.
• Couscous is served in one large shared dish at family meals, weddings and other gatherings. Eat from the part of the dish in front of you.
• Eat a brik with your fingers, holding it by the corners, and bite carefully: the egg yolk inside is often runny.
• Tea is usually drunk after a meal, sweet and in small glasses, sometimes with pine nuts floating on top.
• Most Tunisians are Muslim and do not eat pork, and alcohol is served only in licensed restaurants, bars and hotels.
• During Ramadan, families break the day's fast together at sunset, and cafés and streets fill up after the meal.

Local tips

Dishes to try

• Fish couscous (كسكسي (kosksi)): Couscous, called kosksi in Tunisia, is steamed over a pot of stew in a double pot called a couscoussier. On the coast it is often served with whole fish, such as sea bream or grouper, and vegetables in a hot, red, harissa-spiced sauce. Inland, lamb, chicken or beef are more common.
• Brik with egg (بريك (brik)): A sheet of paper-thin malsouka pastry folded around a whole egg, often with tuna, capers, parsley and onion, then fried for a few minutes until crisp and golden. The yolk usually stays runny inside.
• Lablabi (لبلابي): A garlicky chickpea soup with cumin, poured over torn pieces of stale bread and topped with harissa, olive oil, often a soft-cooked egg, and sometimes tuna, capers and olives. It is cheap, filling and warming.
• Slata mechouia (grilled salad) (سلاطة مشوية): Peppers, tomatoes, onions and garlic are grilled until blackened, peeled and chopped or pounded together with olive oil, caraway and coriander seed. It is usually served cold with tuna, olives and hard-boiled eggs, and eaten with bread.
• Harissa (هريسة): A hot red paste of sun-dried chilli peppers pounded with garlic, caraway, coriander seed and salt, and covered with olive oil. It goes into stews, soups and couscous, and is served on its own with bread and olive oil at the start of almost any meal.
• Ojja with merguez (عجة): A quick dish of eggs cooked in a spicy sauce of tomatoes, peppers, garlic, caraway and harissa, often with slices of merguez, a small spicy sausage, or with shrimp. It is eaten straight from the pan with bread.
• Tunisian tajine (طاجين): Nothing like the Moroccan stew of the same name: a Tunisian tajine is a thick baked omelette, somewhat like an Italian frittata, made with eggs, grated cheese, parsley, potatoes and chicken, minced meat or tuna. It is cut into squares and served warm or cold.
• Mloukhia (ملوخية): A slow-cooked beef or lamb stew in a thick, almost black-green sauce made from the dried and powdered leaves of the jute plant, simmered for hours in olive oil with garlic and bay leaves. It is eaten with bread.

Cities to see

• Tunis (capital): The Medina and the Zitouna Mosque, The Bardo National Museum, Avenue Habib Bourguiba.
• Sfax: Its walled medina, Olive oil and fishing, Fine pastries for weddings.
• Sousse: The Ribat and the medina, Beaches and hotels, Olive oil and textiles.
• Kairouan: The Great Mosque of Kairouan, Makroudh, date-filled pastries, Hand-knotted carpets.
• Bizerte: Its old harbour, Cape Angela, Africa's northernmost point, Lablabi sandwiches.
• Gabès: A coastal palm oasis, Hrous, a spicy onion and chilli paste, Henna.

Landmarks and the city map are on the Tunisia trip