<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>

General:
> before I visit any foreign country I look over cookbooks to see what 
> the ingredients are in their most popular foods.  Flour can be added 
> to almost anything but it gives me a good idea of where to start.
Specific

" As for the food there, you can request the omission of couscous from 
dishes. Also, most of the tagines come without couscous, but it's good 
to ask--just in case. I'm also a vegetarian so the vegetable tagines 
were perfect for me.

The meats there, from what I can tell, are usually free of gluten. Some 
of the soups are thickened with flour. Bread is typically served with 
each meal so be careful to request no bread with your meal and watch for 
bread crumbs being accidentally dropped on your food!

The Berber Cultural Center near the High Atlas Mountains made the best 
meals and after dealing with me on two visits, they're well-versed in 
gluten-free issues"

The spices all seemed to be fresh/fresh ground without preservatives. 
They eat a lot of meat there. I'm vegetarian so I didn't touch it, but I 
think they use fresh spices on the meats (salt, pepper, paprika, onions, 
garlic were all popular). They also eat a lot of rice and potatoes. 
that's a nice substitute for couscous.

We ate in one restaurant in Essaouira on the Atlantic coast of the 
country. They had a nice menu listing the ingredients. I think most of 
the restaurants where we were had their menus readily available outside 
their doors. They customized a dish for me (no couscous and bread) with 
a vegetable tagine. I think they'll all be quite accommodating. They 
have a lot of European tourists in the places you mentioned. I think 
more of us gluten-free types are venturing out and 
educating--slowly--the masses.

Mint tea is perhaps the national drink of Morocco! It's definitely 
gluten and dairy free. They use fresh mint leaves in hot water with tons 
of sugar or they add black tea to it for a caffeine kick."

"First, Morocco is wonderful!  Very diverse, intriguing and 
geographically quite beautiful with lush green valleys, the high Atlas 
Mountains and desert.  I'm sure they will love it.  If they are fluent 
in French, they may want to use download the Gluten free Card from 
Living Without as they can print it in many languages.  It is not clear 
in Arabic but it is clear in French.

Secondly, I found that I could usually get tagine (only seasonings but 
no additives or thickeners), Moroccan Salad, and just simple "shish 
kabobs" at most places.  While nan and couscous are available everywhere 
and reportedly (my son and husband) are great, it is not difficult to 
steer away from them.  We did not run into "processed foods" as in this 
country so I truly found this to be a non-issue, except at an engagement 
party where people all shared from one dish."

Advise from someone who went to Egypt:

 "so ive never been to morocco, but was in egypt gluten free, and know
some arabic. i definitely had a hard time, as the arab world hasn't
really learned about celiac yet. i kept telling waiters i was
"allergic to bread."
but the word for bread in arabic, aish, is the same as the word for
life. so i got a lot of funny looks. and a lot of rice with pasta in
it (they do this often to make the rice last longer) and breaded fish.
just be careful- arab hospitality will fix any mistake if you tell
them, so dont be afraid of sending anything back. also, see if you can
find a local/tour guide to help explain:-)
i found that any touristy place, french/euro, knew "sans gluten" (in
french) and hotels ALL could accommodate.
you'll have a great time, inshallah!"

*Support summarization of posts, reply to the SENDER not the CELIAC List*
Archives are at: Http://Listserv.icors.org/SCRIPTS/WA-ICORS.EXE?LIST=CELIAC