Tunisia: Medinas, Harissa and the Arab World's Most Progressive Society
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Tunisia was the birthplace of the Arab Spring — the wave of popular protests that swept the Arab world beginning in December 2010, triggered by the self-immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi, a street vendor in Sidi Bouzid whose harassment by police officials reflected the humiliations of authoritarian governance that millions of Tunisians experienced daily. President Ben Ali fled to Saudi Arabia within a month. Tunisia then built the only democracy to emerge from the Arab Spring — a fragile but functioning democratic system that lasted until 2021.
The medinas of Tunis, Sousse, and Kairouan are UNESCO World Heritage sites — dense, labyrinthine old cities of mosques, souks, and workshops that preserve the spatial logic of Islamic urbanism from the medieval period. The Tunis medina contains the Zitouna Mosque, founded in 737 AD and one of the oldest universities in the world, where Islamic law and sciences were taught continuously for over a millennium. Walking through the medina today, passing stalls selling jasmine garlands and traditional copper work, is to move through a city that is both ancient and alive.
Harissa — the fiery chilli paste made from roasted red peppers, garlic, olive oil, and spices — is Tunisia's most important culinary contribution to the world. It appears in Moroccan, Algerian, and Libyan food but its strongest, most specific expression is Tunisian, where it is eaten with everything from breakfast bread to couscous to merguez sausage. The variety and quality of Tunisian olive oil, produced from trees growing in groves some of which predate the Roman occupation, is equally world-class and equally underknown.
