Gherkins and Tomatoes reviews of kitty morse's Mint tea and Minarets:
...Another interesting aspect of Mint Tea and Minarets crops up with a brief mention on page 74 of the dadas, or African female slaves whom Moroccans historically considered to be gifted cooks. Many recipes remained secret because as slavery diminished, the demand for these women's cooking skills did not. By keeping recipes close to the chest, so to speak, families ensured employment for their newer members as the years went by. I plan to write something about this in relation to the similar phenomena found in the slave-holding American South. The French-Moroccan chef Fatéma Hal looked briefly at the impact of these cooks in Authentic Recipes from Morocco.
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