Tunisia Street Food

Tunisian street food is built around impossibly thin fried pastry — one savory, wrapped around a runny egg, one sweet, dunked straight into sugar.

5 street food dishes from Tunisia — what each one is, why it's made that way, and what to expect when you order it.

Signature street foods of Tunisia

Welcome Ritual · Tea with Pine Nuts Thé aux Pignons (Tunisian Pine Nut Tea) The pine nuts are dropped into the glass before the tea is poured, and whether they float or sink to the bottom depends on exactly how much sugar is… This is strong green tea steeped with fresh mint and heavily sweetened, then poured over a scattering of raw pine nuts sitting in the glass. It's served everywhere from home living rooms… Fried Pastry · Egg Parcel Brik à l'Œuf The trick to eating it properly is getting through the impossibly crisp shell without breaking the still-runny yolk inside. A whole raw egg, along with tuna, capers, parsley, and sometimes harissa, is wrapped in a sheet of paper-thin malsouka pastry, folded into a triangle, and deep-fried for just a couple of… Sweet Snack · Sugar Donut Bambalouni It's stretched and shaped by hand into a ring, deep-fried to order, then rolled straight in sugar while it's still hot. A ring-shaped fried dough, similar to a doughnut, stretched thin by hand before frying so the inside turns light and airy while the outside crisps up. Vendors fry them fresh to order and… Fried · Vegetable Medley Kafteji It's essentially fried vegetable scraps turned into one of Tunisia's most beloved sandwiches — nothing goes to waste. Kafteji is a mound of deep-fried potatoes, peppers, tomatoes, and sometimes zucchini, all chopped together into a rough hash with a fried egg mixed in. Typically piled into a baguette… Warming Bowl · Chickpea Soup Lablabi Tunisians traditionally eat this hearty soup for breakfast — it was built to warm workers up before dawn, not to close out a meal. Chunks of stale bread are torn into a bowl and covered with a cumin- and garlic-spiced chickpea broth, then topped with a soft-poached or fried egg, capers, olives, and a spoonful of…

More street food in Africa

• Morocco
• Nigeria
• Egypt
• South Africa
• Ethiopia
• Kenya
• Ghana
• Senegal
• Algeria
• Tanzania
• Uganda
• Zimbabwe
• Cameroon
• Ivory Coast
• Mali
• Rwanda
• Zambia
• Mozambique
• Sudan
• Libya
• DR Congo
• Somalia
• Madagascar
• Botswana
• Namibia