Like all countries in the Mediterranean basin, Tunisia offers a "sun cuisine", based mainly on olive oil, spices, tomatoes, seafood ( a wide range of fish) and meat from rearing (lamb).
Shortly before lunch, it is common to have an aperitif - alcholic or non-alcoholic (anisette, beer, fresh fruit juice) - with the " kemia" (an assortment of pistachio, peanuts, broad beans, olives and various vegetables either fresh or pickeled).
If you do not want to stand eating in the sun, you can always by a drink at a nearby cafe and ask if you cac eat your sandwish there...
If you have a little more time to spare, it is possible to find good restaurants serving Tunisian food. A typical menu will include the folowing hors-d'oeuvre: briks (a kind of thin pancake filled with spinach or mashed potato and soft-boiled egg), slata mechouia (tuna and hardboiled eggs with peppers and diced tomatoes, onion , and grilled garlic), delicious Kerkennah Island octopus salads, Tabarka and Gabes prawn salads, and chick pea soup (lablabi), noodle soup (halim), fresh vegetable soup and Sfax fish soup (marqa sfaxiya).
Many fish lovers will be happy to have their fish simply grilled and servedfilleted or sliced with lemon juice and a little olive oil. Fish can also be baked, fried in olive oil, stuffed, seasoned with cumin ( khamoun), however. Squid, cyttle fish, and octopus are often served in hot crispy batter with slices of lemon.
The most sought-after speciality is poisson complet: the fish you choose is prepared, fried, grilled or sauted (whichever way you choose), accompanied by chips and either normal or spic tastira, depending on the kind of peppers used in the dish. The peppers are grilled with a little tomato, a lot of onion and a little garlic, all of which is finely chopped and served with a poached egg.
Couscous can also be made with chicken or fish or osben, a kind of round sausage made with tripe and various herbs. Different spieces are found depending on the region, like cinnamon (kerfa) or dried and crushed rose buds (chouch el ward). Sweetened semolina with dried raisins and dates makes a special dessert (mesfouf) served with a glass of cold milk.
Tajines are nothing like Moroccan tajines. In Tunisia, they are egg based dishes with chopped meat prepared like a large cake. Cooked in the oven, they can be seasoned with parsley, cheese or grilled peppers (the most common).
Visitors will also be able to try shoulder of lamb with potato (koucha bil aallouch), and meat balls (kaftagi) with tomato and fried perpers, which are either very spicy or served with mint (bnadaq). A great deal of dishes are egg-based: chak-choukha, a kind of ratatouille provençale made with peppers, tomatoes, and egg; ojja, a kind of scrambled egg dish with a little tomato and garlic with chopped up merguez suasage or brains.
Finally, some of the most typical Tunisian dishes will only be found if visitors are lucky enough to have some Tunisian friends who will make them. These include melthouth, which is grilled barley served with meat or fish, mloukhia, veal stew with powdered corete which makes a delicious unusual dark green sauce.
Numerous springs produce top quality mineral water, for example Safia, Ain Garci, Selma, Jetkiss, Zulel. During the summer a lot of fresh fruit drinks are drunk, notably orange and lemon juice. One could not forget to mention the traditional mint tea, sometimes served with pine kernels.
