Concept

To be honest, dates (the fruits of love) are rather a duty than a choice. A duty connected to the ancient tradition of several centuries built on courage, patience, persistence, faith and challenge. It is an unlimited effort generated by our ancestors in the huge moroccan desert. In this place, mankind could not surive without its datepalm and the palm needed the mankind’s protection and care to spread and grow. This relationship had been so important that the palm had become a major preoccupation of the mankind’s spirit within all its individual or collective projects.
At this time where the world develops fast and it does not matter how, one feels linked to the conviction that the date that remains nice and good is one of the most appreciated fruits in the world. Its brilliant and golden colour, its sweet and slightly caramelised taste emphasise its belonging to an oriental origin or invite to dream about living a quiet moment in the tranquility and purity of an oasis of the Sahara.
Regarding the activities of economics exchanges the date has its history within the south – north marching through the territories. Also from a religious habits during the muslim’s holy month of Ramadan, the date has its place as queen who invites generously to break the fasting starting with as tasing of it.
It also by offering milk and dates how the king welcomes his guests and is welcomed himself and how engagements and marriages are celebrated. The interest in dates is not only a personal interest but it crosses the borders of this little part of Sahara to become within the world a researched object without losing its original value which remains associated to a rich aliment, that invites to share, exchange and represents like this a trade union between the different generations and the different cultures.

Recipe

Ingredients:
- 2kg of nice dates
- ½ kg of almond powder
- ½ kg of sugar
- 1 spoon of orange flowers water
- juice from ½ lemon
- 100 g of grounded and grilled hazelnuts
- 200 g of milk chocolate
- 200 g of white chocolate

Preparation :
Put the sugar together with 150 ml water and the lemon juice (more or less a table-spoon) in an inoxidable saucepan.
Bring to the boil on medium fire for 15 minutes, supervise the baking by chilling a spoon on a dish, when the mixture becomes honeyed stop the fire.
Preparing the dates: clean them with the help of a cloth or an absorbing humid paper and take of the stone by open the dates on one side.
Mix the sugar baked with the almond powder, add the orange flowers water to perfume, let it simmer on very soft fire and mix well with the help of a wooden spoon to get an homogenous mixture, then add the hazelnuts.
Without letting it chill make elongated balls with the shape of the date’s stone and insert them in the open date, giving the date its initial form.
Melt the white and the milk chocolate in an inoxidable saucepan in a double boiler.
Next immerse half of the dates in the white chocolate and the rest in the milk chocolate, place them on a grill and let them cool in the fridge.
Place the cold sweets in a glass box and make sure to close it properly. Store in a cool place.

Curricula Vitae

Saïd Ait El Moumen is a musician, dancer and choreographer. After working as a percussionist for ten years, he decided to give his career a change of direction by taking part in contemporary dance workshops organised by some leading choregraphers such as G. Appaix , Hella Fattoumi, Sam Louwick, Bernardo Montet, Mathilde Monnier and Fatou Traoré, to name just a few. He founded the first Moroccan contemporary dance company ANANIA with T. Izeddiou and B. Ouizgan in 2003. In 2004, he was invited by the Centre Chorégraphique National de Montpellier to attend the EX. E. R. CE. training course for professional contemporary dance dancers. Since then, his work has been an exploration of dance, music and video art.

Maha El Madi is the director of the cultural association Dar Bellarj Settled in the heart of the Medina of Marakesh. Dar Bellarj foundation has the goal to promote Moroccan culture and it transmits cultural messages through thematic exhibitions. Dar Bellarj also works on the role women have in the morroco society.