Tangier, Morocco

Chickens hang upside down with their throats slit and the esophagus dangling. Cowheads sway from ropes and men carry just-dead sharks over their backs. The smell of mint, the color of saffron, the light of bare bulbs.

It’s the day before Ramadan, which means we need to move quickly through the medina, to find a slice of Berber goat cheese before it’s gone.

Ramadan means no eating, no drinking and no smoking until nightfall, so the men and women of Tangier in Northern Morocco are swarming to the medina to buy special foods they will store for the month-long occasion of contemplation and community.

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