Talk:Couscous

Article Requires Better Picture

Picture is not very good. The viewer cannot easily see what the item looks like, because the item appears covered in vegetables. Can some wise spark please, ideally upload a close up picture and not a serving suggestion type photo. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.113.77.57 (talk) 11:25, 12 March 2012 (UTC)

Agreed - I swapped the first and second pictures. The couscous is actually visible in the now-first photo. GyroMagician (talk) 20:48, 15 July 2012 (UTC)

It's still a poor illustration but an appetizing one. Showing the grain in a vegetable medley with beans is more than confusing. I wanted to show my daughter but this pic is really no help. 166.171.248.11 (talk) 04:53, 17 December 2015 (UTC)

African origins

• I have returned this disputed passage to the article with a reference.Earthdirt (talk) 13:18, 20 November 2007 (UTC)

There is some evidence that the process of couscous cookery, especially the steaming of the grain over broth in a special pot, might have originated before the tenth century in the area of West Africa now comprising Niger, Mali, Mauritania, Ghana, and Burkina Faso. Ibn Batuta journeyed to Mali in 1352, and in what is now Mauritania he had a pearl millet couscous. He also noted rice couscous in the area of Mali in 1350. Also, for centuries, among the nomadic Berbers, black African women were employed as couscous cooks, another possible indication of the sub-Saharan origin of the dish.

I have removed the above section section from the article for discussion at the very adamant suggestion and repeated reverts of an unregistered user. No references are or have been provided for this information and since it is contested I believe it should indeed be removed until confirmed.--Earthdirt (talk) 19:15, 19 November 2007 (UTC)

This user is not registered as they (User:Mariam83) are banned from contributing to Wikipedia. Under WP:BAN any comments from such a user are to be removed from both articles and talk pages, and changes, whether good or not, are to be reverted. I quote:

Any edits made in defiance of a ban may be reverted to enforce the ban, regardless of the merits of the edits themselves. As the banned user is not authorized to make those edits, there is no need to discuss them prior to reversion. Users are generally expected to refrain from reinstating edits made by banned users. Users who reinstate such edits take complete responsibility for the content by so doing.

I have below attached a comment placed on my talk page for further review by other editors on this subject. I agree that at this point it is not controversial to remove this section just the part about "taam". Earthdirt (talk) 19:20, 19 November 2007 (UTC)

Size of couscous

From the image I found on the the Commons, it looks like raw couscous is 1-2mm before cooking/rehydration. I have changed it in the article, thoughts.Earthdirt 17:41, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

Couscous is pasta?

I believe that Couscous is pasta, even though it may be "treated more like a grain in its own right." The Wikipedia article on Pasta states that: "Pasta is a type of food made from the flour of certain grains mixed with water and/or eggs, which is then kneaded and formed into various shapes, and boiled prior to consumption." whereas the definition of Grain on Wikipedia is: "Cereal crops are mostly grasses cultivated for their edible grains or seeds (technically a type of fruit called a caryopsis)." Since Couscous is made of coarsely ground wheat, mixed with water, shaped into spheres, and boiled (or in this case steamed) prior to consumption, in my view it seems to match the definition of pasta exactly. I would like to hear from everyone about their thoughts on classifying Couscous as a pasta and including this in the lead. Otherwise I believe that it may appear that couscous is incorrectly being called the fruit of a grass plant. My latest revision was edited by Drmaik who stated that there is a consensus that this food is a grain and not a pasta. I can't find much discussion on this topic on this page (other than fabiform's comment below, which he later contradicts after hearing how it is made), so I would like to start a true discussion. Can anyone provide any reason that couscous is not a pasta? Please share your thoughts. Peace Earthdirt 23:00, 16 April 2007 (UTC)

• The BBC food glossary agrees that Couscous is pasta. Earthdirt 02:10, 17 April 2007 (UTC)

The page on "pasta" in Italian wikipedia says that "couscous is considered pasta in the US, but a kind of cereal elsewhere in the world". In England I don't think that couscous is assimilated to italian or chinese spaghetti. If this is the case couscous should not be defined as pasta, but merely "considered pasta in the US". 213.140.6.126 13:01, 19 July 2007 (UTC)

That may be true, in fact that same statement was made on this page. However, the word "pasta" has a definition and how couscous is made fits that definition. The simple fact is grains/cereals are an identifiable unground piece of a plants (the seed). Pasta is a grauin/cereal that has been ground, mixed with water and shaped by humans into something to be cooked. I am not sure why a Wikipedia page in Itialian would be a better source than the ones in English, though the fact that Italians don't call it pasta may indicate that the Sicilian immigrants have nothing to do with people from the US calling coucous pasta. I don't think this issue should be viewed as a cultural one, but rather as a search for fact, and the facts are that there is no plant that makes couscous as a seed; couscous is made of shaped wheat flour and water that is meant to be cooked, and that makes it a strange shaped pasta or perhaps something altogether different maybe "food granuals" or "food pellets". It truly doesn't matter if we use to word pasta, it's just WRONG to call this a "grain" or "cereal" because those indicate that it's a type of unground seed from a plant and it just plain isn't.Earthdirt 15:35, 30 July 2007 (UTC)

Typical package of spaghetti says 100% semolina - main ingredient in couscous. It's no more a grain than Orzo, IMO. http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Couscous&diff=prev&oldid=204950697 mis-characterized this; fixing. --IReceivedDeathThreats (talk) 17:14, 14 April 2008 (UTC)

Pronunciation

How do you pronounce this word? 128.12.32.199 18:45, 1 October 2006 (UTC) Koos Koos — Preceding unsigned comment added by 97.113.234.67 (talk) 20:51, 10 June 2011 (UTC)

Crickets

i'm sure iv'e read somewhere that some of the traditional methods of preperation used crushed crickets or locusts, as a source of protien. Can some one please tell me if this is true one way or the other.

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Which ingredients is it made of? -- Hannes Hirzel

I don't know. Whatever pasta's made of. Probably semolina. There are several different recipes for it, just like with any pasta.

The OED says this: "The grain of the African Millet, Holcus spicatus Linn., Penicillaria spicata Willd., a cereal indigenous to Africa, where it has constituted from the earliest times an important article of food." first recorded use around 1600. Entry for "millet" as follows: "A graminaceous plant, Panicum miliaceum, native of India but extensively cultivated as a cereal in the warmer parts of Europe, growing three or four feet high, and bearing on a terminal spike or panicle a large crop of minute nutritious seeds. a. The grain." That seems different than semolina (my speculation above), which is made from wheat. ... Maybe that's just another way to make it? I'm seeing a lot of websites showing it made from semolina too.

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The first reference I saw listed semolina, and the stuff I use is definitely semolina, but it doesn't surprize me that the originaly was millet (which is a different grain--semolina is a grind of wheat). That makes more sense given the climate of North Africa. It's probably us Europeans who started making the stuff from wheat later.

Millet is a different plant -- a type of sorghum (or related to sorghum) -- Marj

As far as I know, it's not a European import, but a price issue - couscous made from semolina is better, but more expensive than barley or millet couscous. Mustafaa 18:49, 7 Apr 2004 (UTC)

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Talk from the "cous cous" page:

Huh? What part of the Middle East? The kind I've had is always wheat flour, and never any sight of fleshy parts of baobab trees. Does the composition differ regionally?

Ditto - besides, there already is an article on couscous. -- Marj Tiefert, Monday, June 17, 2002

I vote for merge & redirect this to couscous -- Tarquin Monday, June 17, 2002

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DONE! :-) -- Marj Tiefert, Monday, June 17, 2002

One question about cooking - I seem to recall a whole involved ritual of steaming rather than boiling, which keeps the grains from sticking together. Anybody know more? -- Marj

I've never seen couscous described as a pasta before. I thought it was a bit like a smaller version of bulger wheat, a cracked wheat. Looking at google [1] it seems that half the time it's defined as cracked wheat, and the other half it's defined as pasta. I'm very confused. fabiform | talk 18:36, 7 Apr 2004 (UTC)

Couscous is pasta. The cracked wheat stuff is tabbouleh. -- Marj 18:55, 7 Apr 2004 (UTC)

I've been researching this. It seems that it's called a pasta in the USA, but not in (most/all?) other countries. Couscous is steamed semolina (ground durum wheat which is coarser than regular wheat flour). Good pasta is made from semolina, but it is made into a paste with water (that's what pasta means - paste) and rolled or extruded into shapes. So couscous isn't a pasta, although this article should certainly say that it is considered to be a pasta in the USA.

It's not "called" a pasta in the U.S. Actually, most people here also think its a grain, but it is a pasta, not a grain. Here it's made from a pasta-type dough, which, yes, usually uses semolina flour. Once the dough is made, it is finely (or not, some areas of the world like it bigger) grated and dried. This is just a more streamlined version of the traditional method described in the article. The reason you need to first sort of stir fry with a bit of oil to coat before cooking with the liquid is so that it doesn't turn to a pasty blob. Also the reason you fork toss it after cooking, to keep the bits separate and somewhat fluffy. In some parts of the world they "toast" it, not sure how that's done, which does make it taste nuttier and more like a grain. Still, it is a pasta. Zlama (talk) 04:17, 12 October 2011 (UTC)

Tabbouleh is a salad made from vegetables and cracked durum wheat (also called bulger wheat). fabiform | talk 22:00, 7 Apr 2004 (UTC)

I have no idea whether it's a pasta or not, but I do know that "couscous" refers to semolina grains stuck together with water, not to the grains themselves (which are called smeed in the area). According to the definition you cite, that makes it a pasta. Or to quote the link at the end:

To make couscous grains, place several handfuls of semolina in the gsaa, sprinkle them with salty water, then roll the resulting lumps in the gsaa under your palm. Small grains or pellets will form. Repeat this process until all of the semolina is rolled into small pellets. Sprinkle a little flour on the pellets as needed to help separate them.

Sift the pellets through the ghorbal. The smaller, finished grains will drop through the screen into a basket or other container. Tip the larger grains into the tbak so they can be rolled again without returning them to the gsaa. As you roll them, sprinkling with flour as necessary, they will break up to become smaller pellets. Sift again in the ghorbal, re-roll and sift again, until all of the grains have passed through the ghorbal and are thus of suitable dimension—a size that the 14th-century writer Ibn Razin al-Tujibi described as "the size of ants' heads." Any larger grains remaining in the ghorbal when you are tired of rolling can be used for burkukis.

- Mustafaa 08:33, 8 Apr 2004 (UTC)

We must be talking about two different things, both of which need to be discussed in this article. I've found several recipes which are simply steamed semolina. This is the kind of couscous I eat. Other methods, like the one above, seem to form small pasta pellets, as you say, from semolina. I wonder if it's "semolina" that is the problem? I've seen a few references to "coarse semolina" being steamed to make couscous. Others call it "semolina flour", and talk of making couscous from it. It sounds like these semolinas are different, it makes sense that you have to roll and sieve the semolina if it's a fine-ground flour, but not if it's wheat ground to particles which can be nearly a millimeter in diameter (as semolina says).

I'll do more work on this later and try to sort it out so that both kinds of couscous are equally represented.  :) fabiform | talk 09:00, 8 Apr 2004 (UTC)

Thanks. There does seem to be some variety in what the term refers to - I've even heard it used to talk about tabbouleh, as someone mentioned! I'm pretty sure the "pasta" method is the traditional one, but I guess it's not the only way to make it... Mustafaa 09:11, 8 Apr 2004 (UTC)

I emailed the manufacturer that I get my couscous from (which is described as dried steamed semolina) and asked them how they make it. And they responded! So, I now know that they make couscous just like you describe with the water and sieves and whatnot, and it was their description on the packet which was confusing me. I still think it's wrong to call it a pasta (just because I've never heard it called that), but I will try to fix the article so that it all makes sense. :) fabiform | talk 18:52, 15 Apr 2004 (UTC)

is that a berber food?

originally, yes. it's spread a bit more widely since...

thinks. —Preceding unsigned comment added by fabiform (talk • contribs)

Image

(copyvio image removed)--Duk 06:22, 8 Apr 2005 (UTC)

is this a copyvio? anyone else have pics of couscous? The bellman 07:20, 2005 Jan 27 (UTC)

History, and Sub-Sahara

Added quite a lot to this page, but have I gone overboard with links to other Wiki pages?? Much of this information is from the historian Clifford White.--Dumarest 13:11, 18 March 2006 (UTC)

Came back to this site, and found a bit of editing on my spelling - 'Kitab al-tatbikh' is current for the manuscript title, thanks for noting my 'h' which should have been 'b'. But the source of the title has this as 'Kitab al-tabikh' - I don't believe that the extra 't' belongs there.--Dumarest 13:11, 18 March 2006 (UTC)

Sorry, you're quite right. My Arabic went wrong. I've corrected that change. --Drmaik 20:28, 18 March 2006 (UTC)

foo-foo

Sorry if I have the spelling wrong - the Wiki article says that foo-foo in West Africa is often called cous-cous. I have no idea if this is correct, but I have added that info to this article. Please correct if it is wrong and do likewise to the foo-foo article. --Dumarest 19:50, 6 April 2006 (UTC)

Fufu and couscous in West Africa are totally different, the former made from yams and most common towards the coast, and the latter from grains and traditional in parts of the Sahel. Just noted this and have removed the reference. (If fufu somewhere has a name that sounds like couscous, that is news to me.) --A12n (talk) 03:32, 29 November 2007 (UTC)

why couscous?

Why was couscous originally made, do you think?

Pronunciation

Couscous rhymes with "soot", not "suit", according to all the dictionaries I have checked. The article is currently (2007-11-10) wrong.

Pronunciation – whoops

I mean, it rhymes with "suit" and not "soot". The article gives the IPA so that it rhymes with soot but this is wrong. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.153.11.148 (talk) 15:25, 10 November 2007 (UTC)

OED has /kʊskʊs/. I have heard American say ku:shu:s but always assumed this was ignorance... may be I was the ignorant one? Do you have a source? Drmaik 15:31, 10 November 2007 (UTC)

There may be more than one valid pronunciation. Couscous in French (from which I presume we got it in English) rhymes with "suit" and that is also how I always used and heard it pronounced in English. The Arabic original - كسكس - has a short "u" sound perhaps closer to "soot." One alternative etymology (popular, if not necessarily accurate, and in any event missing from the article) is that the latter comes from an onomatopoeia of the sound from cooking it - can that be put in IPA?--A12n (talk) 13:37, 29 November 2007 (UTC)

People in the UK definitely also say /u:/, so I added that. Xipirho (talk) 15:39, 16 October 2009 (UTC)

Origins & npov descriptions

I don't know anything about the origins of couscous but note that the opening "Couscous ... is a food from the Maghreb of Berber origin" could be moved down and combined with the later section on possible sub-Saharan origins as a discussion under ==Origins==. Also the initial description could be more broad rather than focusing first on Maghrebian couscous made from semolina and then mentioning other forms - i.e., a better introduction. --A12n (talk) 13:14, 29 November 2007 (UTC)

Similarities with Daliya

The description of couscous seems exactly like daliya (broken wheat) eaten in India. Are they the same? viyyer (talk) 00:46, 25 January 2009 (UTC)

Maftoul is not couscous

While it is made of the same basic ingredients, it is a different dish. It is misleading to say that Couscous is known as Maftoul in Palestine and Lebanon. Couscous is known as couscous, and maftoul (or moghrabieh) is a different dish. A new article on Maftoul is warranted. Tiamut^talk 13:39, 22 January 2010 (UTC)

Is Maftoul the same as Ptitim? From a google search it seems to be? Perhaps it should be redirected there. I agree that it does seem like it's a different food from Couscous. If it is different than Ptitim I encourage you to find some references and make the redirect an article. At minimum I will move the name down into the similar products part. Peace, Earthdirt (talk) 17:51, 22 January 2010 (UTC)

Thanks for that. I'm not convinced that Ptitim is the same as Maftoul, given that the Ptitim page claims it is an Israeli invention, whereas this source (and these: [2], [3], [4], [5]) indicates that it is a Palestinian foodstuff. I'd prefer to create a new page on Maftoul out of what it a redirect now, and then if people believe the two should be merged (based on what reliable sources have to say) we can do so. Tiamut^talk 18:09, 22 January 2010 (UTC)

People are surprisingly possessive of the origin of ethnic foods. Since the Palestinian territories and Isreal have so much overlap it seems likely that they may be the same. As you say it can't hurt to have a cited article on Maftoul for now. It would be nice to see a cross link between the two article so that someone who knows can merge them if they are the same. Earthdirt (talk) 23:09, 22 January 2010 (UTC)

There’s cultural appropriation at play which attempts to erase the heritage of Palestinians and claim their culture as Israeli.

however a minor edit needs to be made regardless: the article says Maftoul is made of burghul wheat “not durum” where it should say “burghul wheat, which itself is made from durum” 197.213.148.91 (talk) 04:42, 31 December 2023 (UTC)

Popularity

I believe couscous is not only popular among Jewish north Africans. I am a Muslim Tunisian and eat couscous at least once a week. All north Africans do! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 41.225.106.120 (talk) 12:52, 31 January 2010 (UTC)

For Wiki you need a citation rather than personal experience. (P.S. I'm a UK resident of no religion and I eat couscous more than once a week, but that isn't going in an encyclopedia article either) ;) 86.179.43.73 (talk) 18:56, 3 May 2011 (UTC)

A cup? Big cup, small cup, medium cup?

Wouldnt it be better if the nutritional information is given for 100g rather than a "cup"? I know Americans are obsessed with cups, but in other countries apart from the US and perhaps Canada, a cup can be be many different volumes, so it is meaningless. The amount of substance in a cup of any volume will also depend upon it being tightly or loosly filled. Giving information for 100g also means it easy to see the percentages. Quoting things in cups is as opaque as quoting things in firkins or hogsheads. The people who eat it as a staple use metric. By the way, there is no such thing as a "metric cup" either. 92.28.245.233 (talk) 18:58, 23 July 2011 (UTC)

What size cup? In the US there are both legal and customary cups, with the former slightly larger. And, as the article shows, there is, in fact, a metric cup. JDZeff (talk) 21:40, 10 May 2018 (UTC)

presumably legal given these are figures for USDA nutrition info. Fortunately someone has put the SI conversion next to the one use of "cup" in this article. --Erp (talk) 01:46, 12 May 2018 (UTC)

Modern manafacturing

There's a website here that explains the process, this should probably be added to the article. http://www.clextral.com/editorial.php?Rub=158 Muleattack (talk) 18:11, 17 February 2012 (UTC)

Sicily

Cous Cous is also typical food of western Sicily. Thuis tradition may be derived from the times wherein Sicily was under Arab/Berber control. I do suggest to redraft the preamble of the page as to indicate Sicily, along with Tunisia an other northern Africa country, as a place wherein couscous is a common dish. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 93.92.153.12 (talk) 10:48, 23 May 2012 (UTC)

Cous Cous is not typical food of western sicily, it's only eaten in trapani where the preparation is more akin to fish pasta from southern italy than anything from north africa. max — Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.8.103.30 (talk) 19:44, 15 October 2012 (UTC)

I added "Citation needed" to the claim about Sicily. It also puts the categorization in some doubt. --Amir E. Aharoni (talk) 08:56, 15 December 2018 (UTC)

In Portuguese-speaking countries

There is a complete section missing in this article. It is not mentioned that the couscous was introduced in Portugal (Portuguese spelling: cuscuz), and from there it was taken to Cape Verde and Brazil. In Cape Verde, cuscuz is a maize flour cake, cooked by steaming. In Brazil cuscuz is steam cooked dish of either maize, rice or cassava flour. 95.93.16.111 (talk) 15:08, 23 July 2013 (UTC)

Preparation

The preparation section combines production, which is usually done by a manufacturer, with preparation, which is done by a cook. It also does not give enough information to allow preparing couscous, in particular it does not give the amount of steaming time needed. This information should be added, with an estimate for different sizes of couscous grains.

I have again added the preparation information for instant couscous, which I had originally added in 2010. The information comes from the back of couscous boxes and someone may wish to locate a notable source, but as the most practically useful information on the whole page, it should not be removed unless replaced with more useful or corrected information. Enon (talk) 16:36, 29 April 2016 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 28 May 2016

50.93.248.232 (talk) 02:43, 28 May 2016 (UTC) Couscous is an Amazigh name and not Arab. Couscous is Amazigh.

Not done: as you have not cited reliable sources to back up your request, without which no information should be added to, or changed in, any article. - Arjayay (talk) 13:02, 28 May 2016 (UTC)

Bulgaria

Couscous is also traditional in Bulgaria, called куткус (kutkus) in places, for example in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breznitsa http://bnr.bg/radiobulgaria/post/100710612 77.85.114.25 (talk) 14:52, 5 January 2017 (UTC)

Names without links are meaningless and confusing

WHo is Lucie Bolens and Charles Perry ?

"Lucie Bolens affirms .. Nevertheless, Charles Perry ..."109.49.141.100 (talk) 10:52, 15 June 2017 (UTC)

They are two people listed just by surname in the references. I was able to find Bolen's and one of her books; wasn't able to find Perry's exact one, but will continue looking. I edited the article to introduce them just as historians. Hope you think it reads a little better. Kind regards, J. 82.69.229.22 (talk) 13:58, 8 August 2017 (UTC)

Algeria versus North Africa

A new editor is editwarring saying that Numidia, the apparent origin of couscous, is exactly analogous to modern Algeria. North Africa is broader, less loaded and nationalistic, and ancient Numidia encompasses three modern nations, therefore North Africa is preferable to Algeria.--Kintetsubuffalo (talk) 07:43, 5 August 2017 (UTC)

The quote from the edit comment was "You don't understand history, when you search for Rome it is in Italy not in Great britain. El Khroub, Tiaret and Lekhdaria are all located in the antique Numidia AND in today's Algeria.)". I think there is confusion of a natural geographic area, a cultural geographic area, and a political geographic area. To begin "Great Britain" is a natural geographic term (it is a large island containing Scotland, Wales, and England [it can also be a colloquial shortening of the political area 'United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland' though the Northern Irish will complain]). Italy is both natural (a peninsula plus some adjacent islands) and political (the country) and cultural. Algeria is political and was not in existence when couscous was first used. One could say something like "the area of modern Algeria", if accurate.--Erp (talk) 15:52, 5 August 2017 (UTC)

I know that many people are allergic to the mere view of the word Algeria. But to clarify things and for your own curosity, follow these two links were the word NUMIDIA and Algiers (the capital of Algeria are mentionned simultaneously).

1. https://www.sanderusmaps.com/en/our-catalogue/detail/166458/old-antique-map-bird's-eye-view-of-algiers-by-braun-and-hogenberg/
2. https://www.sanderusmaps.com/en/our-catalogue/detail/167416/old-antique-map-of-africa-by-w-blaeu

Algeria is not political, it is historical, the northern west part of Africa was divided since the antiquity in 3 nations : Carthage, Numidia and Mauretania. Numidia is made of two different tribes, Massylii and Masaesyli, these two tribes were unifed since Massinissa. Borders were geographical, the western border or Numidia was the Moulouya River, further east, the Chaambi mountains were the separation between Numidia and Carthage. In todays words : Carthage is Tunisia, Numidia is Algeria and Mauretania is Morocco. Of course there were some difference as it is the case for every nation, some gain some territory over others, but nothing significant.

France perpetuated a propaganda that Algeria is a pure creation to justify it's colonisation, and as all westerners you accept this propaganda and I can understand your contempt over Algeria. Not only that, but France was willing to kill anyone living on that land without distinction of age nor race, as stated by different historian like Pellissier de Reynaud. If you like raw citations, you can even read Marshal Bugeaud own words here : http://www.ism-france.org/analyses/Le-passe-genocidaire-de-la-France-en-Algerie-article-16433

Now regarding Couscous, It was clearly identified with archeological evidence that you can find in the Cirta's Mueseum in Constantine Algeria, that the most ancient utensils used for the preparation of couscous were found in El Khroub in the royal tomb of Massinissa, further evidence was found in other places like Tiaret and Lakhdaria. There are post stamps in Algeria that show you how they are, you can find them HERE : http://ainkerme.blogspot.com/2015/11/le-couscous-un-mets-traditionnel-aux.html Sadly I don't own the rights of the picture and therefore I can't add them to the page.

Now I can accept to use the word Numidia if you think that it is anachronism or if you are allergic to the word Algeria like many people do. However, it is unacceptable to put vague information like North Africa for something for which we have evidence of origin. North Africa is way too big and it includes for example Egypt, and Even if I like the great Egyptian civilisation, I don't see any kind of link with couscous, except recent introductions.

And here we are talking about the ORIGIN not were this dish is famous. In todays world, you will find it in all of north African countries, in Brazil (named Cuscuz), in Italy and obviously in France. Stylequick (talk) 09:46, 6 August 2017 (UTC)

Actually the source listed has Maghreb as the origin so I put that in. That is a region that is the subset of North Africa that does not include Egypt and it also does not have the straight line political boundaries that modern Algeria has. Yes it is a bit more obscure but it is a term I've seen in enough scholarly works to refer to the region we want.--Erp (talk) 05:02, 9 August 2017 (UTC)

@Stylequick: First of all, there's a difference between having the oldest artifact of couscous utensils, and being the origin of couscous as a dish. Since couscous preparation is convenient for nomadic lifestyle, we can expect that most or all nomadic tribes throughout North Africa, especially the Maghreb, would have had this dish in some form. Also, as the first source in the article indicates, traditional cooking material for couscous is all organic or made of clay, thus unlikely to survive long enough to be discovered in modern time. We are lucky to even have one. Now if multiple such artifacts were found in, say, Algeria, and there's no clear bias in the results (for example, heavy excavation activity in that area, as opposed to other areas of the Maghreb, favorable conditions for preservation of artifacts due to the type of soil, etc), then that might be a strong indication of origin.

Now concerning the matter of Algeria = Numidia, I fully disagree with that attribution, for multiple reasons. The first one was already mentioned in this discussion, which is that Numidia's territory is now divided between three countries, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya. Singling out one country among the three as "the one true modern embodiment of Numidia", is just historically inaccurate. The second reason is that even the exact territory of Numidia is not completely certain. We know for sure that it didn't extend too far south into what was known as Gaetulia, and thus did not cover most of modern Algeria's territories. Its western borders however were on the river known as Mulucha. Contrary to what you claimed however, the identity of this river is not certain. That Mulucha = Moulouya in Morocco is only one interpretation. Two other possibilities, listed by Gsell and other historians are Macta in Algeria, and Mellègue, Tunisia. And since you like blaming the French, they're in fact responsible for popularizing the first interpretation as the sole correct one, when in fact both testimonies of historians and archaeological evidence found so far, favors the third interpretation. It was in the Interest of the French of course to find legitimate reasons to take as much territory from neighboring Morocco as possible, and so the simple identification of Algeria = Numidia and Morocco = Mauretania, and Mulucha = Moulouya was quite convenient. But we know for sure that inhabitants of the region corresponding to Western Algeria have been called "Mauri" (Moors) in Roman sources. An example is Emperor Macrinus who descended from a Moorish family from Caesarea, modern-day Cherchell, Algeria, as was mentioned by Cassius Dio in his "History of Rome":

Macrinus was a Moor by birth, from Caesarea, and the son of most obscure parents, so that he was very appropriately likened to the ass that was led up to the palace by the spirit; in particular, one of his ears had been bored in accordance with the custom followed by most of the Moors.

— Cassius Dio, Roman History

In other words, the territory of Numidia in the worst case may overlap with modern Algeria only in a small part of the North-Eastern region. On top of this, we know that the Kingdom of Numidia as it was unified by Massinissa only lasted until the time of his grandson Jugurtha, who fought against Romans, was captured by King Bocchus I of Mauretania and sent to Rome to be executed. Bocchus I would then take over one third of the territories of Jugurtha. By the time of King Bocchus II, practically all of the territory in Northern Algeria was part of Mauretania. My next argument is lack of continuity: there's no historical link between Numidia and Algeria. Numidian identity all but disappeared by the late antiquity and was never heard from again until the 20th century with the Berber movement.

In short, the claim that Numidia is "ancient Algeria" is pure nationalistic fantasy. Just like many other modern nations, Algeria is a new nation born of European imperialism, whose seed was planted by the Ottomans. The territory and the people have a long history, but Algeria as an independent political entity doesn't.

Anyways, my personal suggestion is to remove the claim that Numidia = ancient Algeria in the article, and to specify that the oldest artifacts of couscous cooking material were found in Algeria, but the origin is still the Maghreb overall, until further evidence. --Ideophagous (talk) 10:32, 09 May 2020 (UTC)

...............

@Ideophagous:

Numidia as a historical,geographical and political entity started in Algeria and was set up and created by Algerians.It has expanded to Tunisia and Libya from Algeria.It's capital cities were always in Algeria.All of its kings and rulers were from Algeria.Historically,the people referred to as Numidians were the people of Today's Algeria.The fact that Numidia expanded from Algeria to take over territories in Tunisia and Libya does not make Tunisia and Libya part of the historical heritage of Numidia. Numidia's territory was not divided between three countries(Algeria, Tunisia, Libya).Numidia's territory was in Algeria where it started before it has annexed territories in Tunisia and Libya. Algeria is the modern embodiment of Numidia.

Of course there is a historical continuity and a direct historical link between Algeria and Numidia.Numidian identity did not disappear as you claim,it has just evolved and taken different names throughout history.The people are the same people,the cultural substrate is the same,the geography is still the same ect.. No,you are mixing things up,Numidians or Numidian identity has nothing to do with the 20th century Berber movement which is mainly a political movement(with some strings attached).

Claiming that Numidia is Algeria is certainly not a nationalistic fantasy,it is a claim backed up by facts and history.You should not evaluate history with modern paradigms.The modern Republic Of Algeria is an entity that was not born of European imperialism but it is a Republic born out of one of the greatest(if not the greatest)revolution in the history, whose seed was planted by the Numidians and the other Algerian states througthout history...The Republic Of Algeria is a modern concept just like most of modern countries(if not all).But the land of Algeria has seen different large indigenous independent states during its history long before the European imperialism or the Ottomans era and has been the cradle and the start point of empires that ruled the whole of North Africa and the Middle East.

The first independent indigenous state in the history of North Africa was in Algeria.The first independent state in the Islamic era of North Africa was in Algeria.Several independent states followed after that.Even during the Ottomans era Algeria was independent and its link to the Ottoman empire was largely symbolic after the initial period.Just before the Ottoman period for instance and as an indication, the Zianide state(an Algerian dynasty) ruled for three centuries in Algeria.Or may be you are suggesting to discount all of 3300 years worth of history of Algeria and roll over the clock to zero because Algeria(like most countries in the world)has been attacked and invaded by the french colonialists. Of course not!

When the French attacked Algeria they find a country with all its sovereign institutions(army,navy,own tax system,own currency,clear administrative subdivisions ect..) a country with a capital city(Algiers) a country that has an independent foreign policy and diplomatic relations and signs treaties with the Name Algiers and Algeria...

And finally,you are wrong again, it was not in the interest of the French to find legitimate reasons to take as much territory from neighboring Morocco(Morocco was on the list of the future targets, it was only a question of time).On the contrary, the french have rather taken territories from Algeria and added them to the Sultana of Fez..you have to understand that there was no Morocco in those days, there was a Sultana of Fez, a Sultana of Marrakech, Blad Essiba(independent territories with no authority) and the Spanish colonialism.These Algerian territories were to reward the Sultan of Fez for its treason towards the Emir Abdelkader in the same way Bocchus of the roman province of Mauretania Tingitana(in Morocco)betrayed Jughurta and got rewarded by the Romans with territories in Numidia. History repeats itself!

The Moulouya river has been the natural border between Algeria and Morocco for centuries and well before the French came to North Africa(and all the serious history books and geographical maps agree on that).So the french have no logical reason to lie about that.

You should not let your bias towards Algeria interfere with your thinking. (Davos11) 06:48, 08 July 2020 (UTC)

........................

The facts point to one direction, couscous is a historical Numidian Algerian dish ... not only does archaeological and anthropological evidence confirm it, but also historical logic corroborates it in every way. The ancient remains of utensils used in the preparation of couscous were only found in Algeria.In particular, in the tomb of the Numidian Aguelid Massinissa which dates from 2300 years ago. And, also, several relics and complete utensil sets found in different regions, the region of Tiaret among others. This confirms that couscous is a dish that dates back at least 2500-2700 years. This eliminates "defacto" and completely the geographic region that is known by Morocco today, since history has never recorded any human or historical activity in this region until much later after the advent of Islam in North Africa and the demographic and populations flows from the outside towards this geographical portion which was used by muslims as a springboard for the conquest of Andalusia.

As for present-day Tunisia, there were the Phoenicians who reigned there for a long time. So the couscous is either Algerian Berber or Phoenician. But as, this same couscous is unknown in the Middle East (Syria, Lebanon) where the Phoenicians who occupied Tunisia originate, therefore, we can rigorously deduce, that the couscous can only be Algerian Berber. Regards,

Extensab (talk) 08:15, 9 July 2020 (UTC)

3O: There is currently not enough discussion here to provide third opinion. 3O request has been declined, but I encourage both parties to discuss the issue they are having further or encourage other users in WikiProjects to provide feedback. jd22292 (Jalen D. Folf) (talk) 00:47, 11 August 2017 (UTC)

Where are your sources ERP ? Maghreb is too broad, all sources attest that it existed in the Numidia in the Antique era. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Stylequick (talk • contribs) 21:22, 18 August 2017 (UTC)

The Clifford Wright source. I checked enough to see that he is a known expert in the area of food history so I would consider it reputable. I did not find a source that attributed it solely to Numidia. This article could talk about finding specific archaeological remains at specific sites (with appropriate cites). --Erp (talk) 21:28, 20 August 2017 (UTC)

References

copyright infringement

Found and removed various copyright infringement of http://www.cliffordawright.com/caw/food/entries/display.php/id/34/ I'm not sure I got them all. --Erp (talk) 03:46, 28 August 2017 (UTC)

What is couscous made of?

A discussion with my wife relating to this evening's meal led me to this page for enlightenment. The introduction states that it is made from durum wheat semiolina, but the remainder of the article contradicts this by listing alternative sources. --Brian Josephson (talk) 17:19, 1 April 2018 (UTC)

There is a bit of confusion which needs to be cleared up. In part it is because the name exists in several cultures and is applied to different source materials though the method of cooking seems to be similar. I'm not sure what the US legal standard is (if there is one). I've just found a source for the European Union standards. --Erp (talk) 22:13, 1 April 2018 (UTC)

Good! I see the Free Online Dictionary definition refers to 'semolina or other grains' but the article is fine as it is now. That's a really appetising picture going with the article, is it not? --Brian Josephson (talk) 08:17, 2 April 2018 (UTC)

A Commons file used on this page has been nominated for speedy deletion

The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page has been nominated for speedy deletion:

• Cuscus.jpg

You can see the reason for deletion at the file description page linked above. —Community Tech bot (talk) 12:51, 29 April 2019 (UTC)

Archaeology

I found in the Wright source a mention that shards of the bottom vessel (he called it marmite-like, marmite is a French cooking vessel) were found at Chellala in Algeria. Unfortunately he did not give a source. My guess is that the source is in either French or Arabic. Maybe the Cominardi, François. 1995. Le ksar de Chellala Dahrania: au coeur des Monts des Ksour. Textes de documentation saharienne 7. Centre de documentation saharienne. There is also a website about Chellala https://www.chellala.com/index.htm (in French) though, as far as I can see, nothing about archaeology (my French is extremely poor). --Erp (talk) 01:19, 10 May 2020 (UTC)

@Erp:The website is not a reliable source (Clifford A. Wright is not a historian nor an archaeologist). I changed it with (Bolens, 1989) and (Perry, 1990) -TheseusHeLl (talk) 06:05, 10 May 2020 (UTC)

Though more reliable than the unsourced Numidia that was there before. Thanks for getting better sources. Though I note that Lucie Bolens info is being paraphrased in the source in the article with its source being:

• Bolens, Lucie. "L'étonnante apparition du couscous en Andalousie médiévale (XIIIe siècle): Essai d'interprétation historique" [The surprising apparition of couscous in Medieval Andalusie, thirteenth century: An attempt of historical interpretation]. In Mélanges en l'Honneur du Professeur Anne-Marie Piuz, 61–70. Genève: Université de Genève, 1989.

Also I think

• Chemache, Loucif, Farida Kehal, Hacène Namoune, Makhlouf Chaalal, and Mohammed Gagaoua. 2018. “Couscous: Ethnic Making and Consumption Patterns in the Northeast of Algeria.” Journal of Ethnic Foods 5 (3): 211–19. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jef.2018.08.002.

Which also mentions Bolen's work and has fairly lengthy intro on the history of couscous might be an useful source. --Erp (talk) 20:42, 10 May 2020 (UTC)

@Erp:Yep it's paraphrased by the food historian Teresa de Castro and the work is edited by the anthropologist of food Solomon H. Katz and the culinary historian William Woys Weaver. I wanted to use the paper you mentioned. But none of the authors in "Couscous: Ethnic making and consumption patterns in the Northeast of Algeria" are historians or anthropologists of food. I don't think a paper written by biotechnologists and food technologists could be used in the Origin and history section. -TheseusHeLl (talk) 21:30, 10 May 2020 (UTC)

@TheseusHeLl:Charles Perry has never mentioned the sentence "northern Algeria and Morocco" when he stated that couscous originated between the 11th and 13th century.

Why it has been inserted as a quote from Charles Perry! -Colos1 (talk) 08:53, 9 July 2020 (UTC)

Grams in the infobox

Fix the mass in the infobox. 1/4 cup cannot weigh 21g and contain 42g of macronutrients. Consider using a unit of 100g so that the nutrition value can be directly compared to other products, which will have a slightly different serving size rounded to cups. -- J7n (talk) 09:35, 3 September 2021 (UTC)

September 2021

With regards to the recent changes:

• While Moghrabieh may be related to Berkoukes and could probably do with its own article, it's not couscous and shouldn't be given UNDUE weight (be treated differently from other similar foods such as Fregula, etc.).

• The "Jewish cuisine" section that was added is also UNDUE since Couscous is a Maghrebi dish that is prepared by Maghrebis worldwide (regardless of their ethnic background, religion or nationality). Not that it matters, but the source used for that section doesn't say otherwise. M.Bitton (talk) 11:21, 8 September 2021 (UTC)

I'm not hugely passionate about the latter change, as all I was trying to do was preserve the existing material and citations. However, I must heartily disagree with you over Moghrabieh/maftoul. I gave the rationale for giving this a greater weight than other similar foods in my edit comments, but essentially, it is the same rationale as explained in the similar foods section intro. Most of the similar foods are made with a totally different type of grain or cereal crop and most are forms of pasta and based on distinct culinary traditions. Moghrabieh/maftoul are direct offshoots of couscous that use the same flour and are created using much the same process, just rolled into larger balls. Moghrabieh as a name references the Maghreb precisely because that connection is understood. If I made a cake twice the size of an existing cake, would you call it a totally different food stuff just because I used a different name for it, or would you call it a larger version of the original? Iskandar 323 (talk) 11:47, 8 September 2021 (UTC)

It is also somewhat arbitrary to retain the Sahel variants of couscous, which are based on different ingredients, while excluding moghrabieh, which uses identical ingredients. Iskandar 323 (talk) 11:47, 8 September 2021 (UTC)

Both berkoukes and fregula, as their descriptions state, are forms of pasta, which, more often than not is baked or toasted. Moghrabieh is never mentioned alongside these foodstuffs, but does appear, widely mentioned as being a form or variant of couscous. Iskandar 323 (talk) 11:54, 8 September 2021 (UTC)

There is no difference between Moghrabieh and Fregula as they both appear to be offshoots of Berkoukes (they are usually boiled) and not the usually couscous. We have similar foods that are described as couscous, but yet are not given UNDUE weight, so there is no reason to treat Moghrabieh differently. On a related note, I have noticed that you have been adding "Category:Middle Eastern cuisine" to a number of dishes that have nothing to do with the Middle East. I don't know why that is and I hope you self revert those additions. M.Bitton (talk) 11:58, 8 September 2021 (UTC)

Show me a source that says Moghrabieh and Fregula are offshoots of Berkoukes. All I see is sources saying it is a form of couscous. And I have added nothing undue to the "Category:Middle Eastern cuisine". As the description of Middle East cuisine states, it encompasses Arab cuisine, which includes Egyptian and Maghreb cuisine. Iskandar 323 (talk) 12:05, 8 September 2021 (UTC)

Berkoukes is a form Couscous (I can provide RS if you want) and Moghrabieh is not Couscous. As for the Middle East, I don't see how that category could be added to all those articles (that have nothing to do with the Middle East). (talk) 12:09, 8 September 2021 (UTC)

@M.Bitton Yes, please do provided a RS. Berkoukes is a form of pasta, which every article about couscous explains is not the same thing. Middle Eastern cuisine is a very broad cuisine, that includes Arabic cuisines from across the Arab World, which in turn includes North African cuisine, as I explained. This is all in the Middle Eastern cuisine description. Iskandar 323 (talk) 12:16, 8 September 2021 (UTC)

Here's a rock solid source.[6] Middle Eastern cuisine is different from Maghrebi cuisine. M.Bitton (talk) 12:20, 8 September 2021 (UTC)

@M.Bitton Ok, well then just include Berkoukes in the main article too, since the source is unambiguous that this is also a form of couscous, together with others. The similar foods on this page are mainly extruded pastas or foods made with grains other than wheat. If Berkoukes is indeed a hand-rolled couscous-style food, it should be placed more prominently too. These foods don't have their own page, so if you want to relegate them to a footnote on this page, the least you should do is create a separate, dedicated page for them first. This still doesn't answer the question of why you want to include Sahel versions in the body, when they have local names like thiep and are not even referred to a couscous, while relegating foods like moghrabieh, which is openly referred to as a form of couscous. Middle Eastern cuisine is different from Maghrebi cuisine only that it includes the latter as well as a bunch of other cuisines. (Again, this is in the description of Middle Eastern cuisine, under Arab cuisine, which is "defined as the various regional cuisines spanning the Arab world, from the Maghreb to the Fertile Crescent and the Arabian Peninsula." It draws in food from Morocco to Iran and north to Turkey and the Caucausus, obviously as a result of the Ottoman empire. I didn't write the history. Iskandar 323 (talk) 12:32, 8 September 2021 (UTC)

Actually, I was looking at the Sahel versions and wondering what to do with them (a bit difficult since some of those, like Wusu-Wusu, are described as couscous). One possibility is to rename a section where all other related/similar foods are bundled together with a brief mention for each; but the lead section shouldn't be changed, except perhaps for removing the word Sahel from it. Alternatively (probably easier option), they can be moved to the similar foods section. M.Bitton (talk) 12:42, 8 September 2021 (UTC)

Great, sounds like we're actually getting somewhere. I don't mind if you remove the Sahel reference, but I think you should be including the direct relatives of couscous, or 'cousins of couscous', as defined in your source that use the same ingredient, semolina, and the same rolling production technique in a separate section from mere couscous-like foods that use different ingredients and production. As the source notes, only 2mm diameter granules are 'couscous' proper, so by your current logic, you would need to exclude even the 1mm grade of couscous based on it having a different name, which seems like a slippery slope to me. Iskandar 323 (talk) 12:52, 8 September 2021 (UTC)

I think we all know what Couscous is and what the average reader will be looking for, so let's not go down that route. To treat all variants equally, I will move Thieboudienne to the similar food and remove the Sahel from the lead. M.Bitton (talk) 12:57, 8 September 2021 (UTC)

Already done. Next: the fairly unimpeachable source that you presented openly talks about couscous in terms of grades, and calls them all forms of couscous. Currently, we are selectively including smaller grades, but excluding larger grades. I think there should be a section on these larger grades, since they form a clearly defines sub-category of couscous. I would note that in your preferred source, moghrabieh is listed prominently in the first paragraph as a form of couscous. However, you are right that this might not be what the average reader is looking for. That is why I accept your removal of it from the main section. But this does not preclude us from creating a separate section on large couscous grades below the main section that could inform readers above and beyond their expectations. Iskandar 323 (talk) 13:29, 8 September 2021 (UTC)

I can see that. Unfortunately, I still don't understand how one goes from discussing something to changing what wasn't discussed. Anyway, I will have to go through it again and see how much "tweaking" I can do. As for the source, it's not my "favourite", it's just a source that was presented to you when you asked for one and it doesn't describe it as a "form of Couscous", it says it's known in neighbouring countries and has foothold in there as well as Brazil (Does anyone think of Brazil when they think of Couscous?). No, we don't need to create a section for the larger variety, a simple mention (like we did for the smaller one) is more than enough. M.Bitton (talk) 14:46, 8 September 2021 (UTC)

@Iskandar: I have taken what you said into consideration and removed what was bothering you (the Sahel) from the lead, therefore there is no reason for you to keep changing it (especially considering the fact that it's been stable for years and that your changes have been reverted multiple times). If you think it needs improving, then you're welcome to propose your changes here. M.Bitton (talk) 15:04, 8 September 2021 (UTC)

@M.Bitton I didn't ask specifically for that to be removed. I just pointed out the inconsistency in your approach. I had already amended the introduction to explain that there are other variants of couscous consumed around the Middle East and Sahel. You just weighed in to make it less specific by making it 'other regions'. Now it is unclear to anyone reading the article that other people in the Middle East outside of the Maghreb eat any form of couscous. You also seem to think that the French eating couscous is more important than the entire history of related culinary developments in the Middle East. It's true that this article was stable before. Stable and incorrect on many levels. There was a larger section on couscous as it is consumed in Israel than on the entire culinary tradition of couscous in North Africa – something you never objected to at the time. I made dozens of edits to clean up the article, and you were only prompted to seriously review it in response to my efforts. Iskandar 323 (talk) 16:11, 8 September 2021 (UTC)

Actually, the French eat the real Couscous (and not something that looks like it) and the fact that it was voted the third most popular dish over there is not something to be ignored. The lead wasn't and isn't incorrect. You changed the article and now it looks much better than it did (those who are interested in other remotely related dishes will find them at the bottom of the article).

As the description of Middle East cuisine states, it encompasses Arab cuisine, which includes Egyptian and Maghreb cuisine as far as categories are concerned, "Maghrebi cuisine" is a subcategory of "North African cuisine", which is obviously different from the "Middle Eastern cuisine". Could you please revert your changes? M.Bitton (talk) 16:20, 8 September 2021 (UTC)

@M.Bitton: You raise some interesting questions about the structuring of Wikipedia's geographical region definitions, WikiProject structures and category organisation. The Middle East seems a bit discombobulated on the platform. Common usage and cultural history currently seem to be playing second fiddle to geographical considerations. On this note, I could do with your assistance in addressing a particularly acute problem with the North Africa page. I have taken some time to re-organise the various definitions of this term on the page, referencing the sources provided (without imposing my own viewpoint), and one question clearly emerges: should Sudan should be included? This has been discussed on the Talk:North_Africa#Sudan? page, but not resolved. As I have noted in a comment, only the UN source includes it, while the African Union, World Bank and Encylopedia Britannica sources exclude it. The article itself also excludes it. There is almost no further mention of Sudan on the page beyond the UN definition. You can see that the issue, or variations on the theme, crops up over and over again on the talk page. It could do with the eye of an experienced editor and administrator that clearly has an interest in the region and its definitions. Iskandar 323 (talk) 08:54, 9 September 2021 (UTC)

I'll make sure to comment on it on the North Africa article, but this doesn't change anything to what I said about the current categories and the above request. M.Bitton (talk) 17:11, 9 September 2021 (UTC)

Being part of one category tree does not preclude an article or category from being part of another category tree, according to WP:Categorization#Category_tree_organization. Overlapping category trees are perfectly acceptable. Iskandar323 (talk) 17:40, 9 September 2021 (UTC)

Have you missed the part that says "Categorization of articles must be verifiable" and that a "central concept used in categorizing articles is that of the defining characteristics of a subject of the article"? Anyway, I don't intend on repeating what I said, so it's up to you whether you want to self revert. I'm done here. M.Bitton (talk) 17:57, 9 September 2021 (UTC)

No need to get flustered. We're having a perfectly civil discussion. As you recited: As the description of Middle East cuisine states, it encompasses Arab cuisine, which includes Egyptian and Maghreb cuisine Seems well defined. Iskandar323 (talk) 18:08, 9 September 2021 (UTC)

• Couscous is widely consumed in Israel, with its own variations and traditions. I restored the section that Iskander removed along with many other changes. Free1Soul (talk) 05:40, 30 September 2021 (UTC) sock

  This article has moved on. It is not a page about where couscous is eaten, which is globally, but about the origins and history of the dish itself. The content on ptitim, which according to the definition on its separate page is not actually a type of couscous, was not removed by me, but by @M.Bitton in this edit to redefine the article more purely in terms of couscous proper, as originating in Maghrebi cuisine. We have had our own separate differences about what 'couscous proper' entails, but this is where the page has arrived at as the result of consensus. Iskandar323 (talk) 06:34, 30 September 2021 (UTC)

  Sorry, not ptitim, I mean the references to couscous consumption in Israel - they noted that all of these serving styles are simply analogous to the variation on couscous dishes across the Maghreb region, and therefore the section was duplicative. Iskandar323 (talk) 06:40, 30 September 2021 (UTC)

  Jewish couscous in Israel, where Jews arrived after fleeing from the Arab pogroms, is different from what remained in North Africa. In addition pttitm, Israeli couscous, developed as a couscous surrrogate when supply was short and there was rationing in the 1950s is a notable related innovation of Israeli cusine. Free1Soul (talk) 06:46, 30 September 2021 (UTC) sock

  The article on ptitim actually describes it as a food that arose due to a shortage of rice. Iskandar323 (talk) 06:48, 30 September 2021 (UTC)

  Both couscous and ptitim are made of wheat, so ptitim could not address wheat scarcity. Iskandar323 (talk) 06:51, 30 September 2021 (UTC)

  Ptitim was removed even earlier for the aforementioned reasons, i.e. it is not related. Iskandar323 (talk) 06:46, 30 September 2021 (UTC)

January 2022

@Glide08: Nobody is suggesting that it isn't used in Israel, just like it's used everywhere (just search for "Couscous + any Mediterranean country" and you'll see), but there is no reason to list Israel in the lead, alongside the countries that are closely associated with the dish. In case one wonders why France is the exception: it's been known there since the 16th century, France was fully exposed to it when Algeria became part of France, it's widely consumed there (not just by the Maghrebis and the Pied-Noir), the word Couscoussier is French and so is the word Couscous, etc. M.Bitton (talk) 13:58, 5 January 2022 (UTC)

Unjustified changes under false pretences

With regard to this change by the "40.133.234.46":

• Their actually researching this, not just using google is not only insulting, but it's also baseless as you shall see.

• Their incorrect arabic claim is factually incorrect. The use of Tashkil is a matter of editorial judgement.

• They changed the Berber name " Berber languages: ⵙⴽⵙⵓ, romanized: Seksu" to "Berber languages: ⵙⴽⵙⵓ, romanized: K'seksu", even though the cited reliable sources say otherwise.[7][8][9]

• They changed "kaskasa ‘to pound’" to "kaskasa ‘to pulverize’" and added a fictitious ref (their commentary between ref tags) to support their OR. The cited reliable source[10] and others support the former.

• They replaced "root *K" (which is attributed to a Salem Chaker, a specialist in Berber linguistics[11]) with what they found in an unreliable source (the recipe book that they added).

The IP was made aware of of this, yet they chose to ignore it (after blanking their talk page to continue their edit war). M.Bitton (talk) 16:19, 25 May 2022 (UTC)

40.133.234.46 IP has been blocked for editing warring for two years so is unlikely to respond. --Erp (talk) 02:14, 31 May 2022 (UTC)

Ngram, Ridiculous order of countries

This alphabetical order of Countries in the lead seems very ridiculous. Here is what the Ngrams say [12]. Thanks.Simoooix.haddi (talk) 16:57, 6 April 2023 (UTC)

Alphabetical order is the most logical, and what is used in pretty much all situations like these. This seems like an extremely petty issue and more likely than not some sort of nationalistic agenda pushing. Don't worry, literally nobody will care about this when reading the article.

Whatever748 (talk) 20:55, 9 April 2023 (UTC)

My recent edits

The problem is that the previous version is quite biased, since it claims couscous was introduced to Europe by France when there are much more reliable sources stating it was introduced by the Almohads in Al-Andalus and in Italy (Sicily, Sardinia) long before. I believe we need a more neutral view in the lead. What do you think? Dido789 (talk) 01:29, 2 January 2024 (UTC)

@Dido789: that's not what the lead says. M.Bitton (talk) 01:35, 2 January 2024 (UTC)

It pushes the view that couscous was introduced to European cuisine via France during the 20th century, “It was integrated into French and European cuisine at the beginning of the twentieth century”. This is completely false, as it was first introduced via the Almohads in Al-Andalus and then made it’s way into Italian cuisine in Sicily and Sardinia in the 18th century, much before the 20th century when France was in Algeria. I added more reliable sources for this. The sources stating it was introduced to European cuisine via France are also all in French, and not in English! It’s very weird!!! Dido789 (talk) 01:40, 2 January 2024 (UTC)

There is a difference between being integrated into a cuisine and being consumed once a year as a novel dish (Sicily). Besides, Andalusia was part of the Muslim west and not Europe. M.Bitton (talk) 01:43, 2 January 2024 (UTC)

What’s your evidence that it’s “consumed once a year as a novel dish”? Where are your references? Dido789 (talk) 01:46, 2 January 2024 (UTC)

Where is your source that says it's part of the Italian cuisine? M.Bitton (talk) 01:47, 2 January 2024 (UTC)

You removed it! 😂 This was the source I cited: https://www.martinotaste.com/en/blog-en-2/couscous_history_of_the_mediterranean_food/#:~:text=Couscous%20is%20a%20food%20with,Africa%2C%20especially%20in%20the%20Maghreb. It clearly states: “Couscous, as we have come to know and love it, is for us a testament to how well ancient traditions and modern processes work together to create a new product that is now an integral part of Mediterranean cuisine. The versatility of the food is why it quietly slipped into Italian cuisine and we feel as though it’s always been a part of it.” Dido789 (talk) 02:38, 2 January 2024 (UTC)

That’s just one of the sources. There were others too. There are others already cited in the article that clearly state it was a popular dish in Italy in the 18th century, much before France was in Algeria. If you check you will find it. Dido789 (talk) 02:41, 2 January 2024 (UTC)

Vendor marketing materials (in this case a self published blog post) are terrible sources. MrOllie (talk) 02:44, 2 January 2024 (UTC)

In this source (https://www.sanpellegrino.com/uk/sparkling-drinks/zesty-food/couscous-alla-trapanese) it also states: “Sicilian cuisine is very diverse, as it has been influenced by the many cultures that visited its wonderful land in ancient times. Couscous is a very important example. Couscous is typically a traditional Moroccan dish, but while in the African coast it is prepared with meat and vegetables, in Sicily - and more precisely in Trapani - it is seasoned with fresh fish caught in the Mediterranean Sea.” Dido789 (talk) 02:44, 2 January 2024 (UTC)

Another unreliable vendor source. This is already covered adequately in the history section of the article. We don't need a badly sourced version in the lead section. MrOllie (talk) 02:46, 2 January 2024 (UTC)

Here’s more: https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=SSHSB8VOL3oC&pg=PA11&dq=italian+cuisine+couscous&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&source=gb_mobile_search&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj2gpyS2L2DAxWlUkEAHU5aCqs4KBDoAXoECAgQAw#v=onepage&q&f=false This clearly states Sicilian couscous is part of Italian cuisine. Dido789 (talk) 02:47, 2 January 2024 (UTC)

Therefore, couscous is part of Italian cuisine 🤤 😋 Dido789 (talk) 02:49, 2 January 2024 (UTC)

Again, this is already covered in the history section with a good citation to a book from a reputable academic publisher. We don't need and should not use vendor blog posts and mass-market cookbooks. MrOllie (talk) 02:53, 2 January 2024 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 10 April 2024

The sources are clearly in disagreement. I don't understand the point of the infobox attributing the origin to Numidia? It's like considering the other sources not important. 102.52.34.162 (talk) 22:26, 10 April 2024 (UTC)

Please change Numidia to Maghreb.

X=Numidia and Y=Maghreb. 102.52.34.162 (talk) 22:36, 10 April 2024 (UTC)

The sources indicate different geographic regions and time periods not as potential birthplaces of couscous, but rather as evidence of its presence in those regions during those times. Among these sources, Numidia is notably the earliest documented historical tracing, thus warranting its designation as the origin in the infobox. sloth (talk) 10:09, 25 April 2024 (UTC)

 Not done for now: please establish a consensus for this alteration before using the {{Edit semi-protected}} template. As this has been discussed at length above, it is clearly not an uncontroversial edit. PianoDan (talk) 21:51, 11 April 2024 (UTC)