Traditional Algerian food shows the historic influences of Berber, Arab, Turkish, and French tastes. It can be mild or very spicy and many flavorings are used. Algiers and popular coastal towns have a fair selection of good restaurants, serving mainly French and Italian-style food, though even classic dishes will have an unmistakable Algerian quality. Fish dishes are exceptionally good.
Things to know: The sale of alcohol is not encouraged. Alcohol is only available in more expensive restaurants and hotels. There are no licensing hours and hotel bars tend to stay open for as long
as there is custom. Algeria produces some good wines but very few of them seem to be served in the country itself. The major hotels may have a reasonable cellar of European wines.
National specialties:• Stalls sell
brochettes (kebabs) in French bread and covered in a spicy sauce.
• Couscous, a semolina-like pasta made from cracked wheat, is a staple food in Algeria and throughout North Africa.
• Chickpea-cakes make a cheap and tasty accompaniment for food.
• Stews like
shakshuka, with vegetables, and
tajine, with lamb or chicken, are popular everyday dishes.
• The traditional diet of desert nomads is based on couscous and the meat of the sheep or goats they herd. When traveling, desert people carry pressed dates or figs, and hard cheese, which keeps for a long time.
National drinks:• As in much of North Africa and the Middle East, refreshing, golden-colored mint tea and strong, sweet coffee (sometimes called Turkish coffee) are drunk wherever people gather to talk and relax, a legacy of French rule.
• If available, try
Medea,
Mansourah and
Mascara red wines and
Medea,
Mascara and
Lismara rosés.
Tipping: 10% is usual.
NightlifeThe main towns offer reasonable entertainment facilities, including hotel restaurants,
nightclubs,
folk dancing and
traditional music. In Algiers and Oran, some
cinemas show English and French films.
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