From Acting to Fine Dining: Meet Morocco’s Star Chef Najat Kaanache

Our new Women-only tour, the Best of Morocco, is an unforgettable 11-day adventure through a land of mesmerizing contrasts—bustling markets, grand mosques, serene mountains, and silent deserts. With the added intimacy of small group travel, this tour offers a deeper connection to Morocco’s timeless traditions, including visits to ancient kasbahs at the edge of the Sahara, tea-drinking with local nomads, historical mosque tours, and a special hammam experience.

One highlight is an exclusive dining experience at Nur in Fes, where you’ll be personally served by Najat Kaanache, one of Morocco’s most well-recognised celebrity chefs. Having honed her skills in 3-star Michelin restaurants like El Bulli and The French Laundry, Chef Najat brings her theatrical flair and passion for culinary innovation to each dish. As host of AMC’s “Cocina Marroquí,” she continues to captivate audiences. We had a chat with Chef Najat to find out more about her renowned restaurant and journey from actress to trailblazing chef.

She was inspired after watching a documentary about Heston Blumenthal, one of the UK’s top chefs, with three Michelin stars to his name. In the documentary, Blumenthal was experimenting with sea shells, sound and smoke, and her words were: “Oh my god. I want to do that. How can I do that?” When Blumenthal’s chef de cuisine came to Rotterdam to open a restaurant, she went every Friday to ask for a job. Every Friday, they turned her down, as the restaurant was still under construction.

Despite the repeated rejections, she persisted every Friday until they finally hired her, simply because they had no other choice. Although her boss made her life difficult, or as she puts it, “he made my life miserable”, she also says that he gave her every tool she needed, and for that, she remains grateful. She learned that sometimes the toughest lessons are for your own good, much like how parents guide their children. After nearly two years working with him, she sent 50 letters to the best restaurants in the world and received 27 replies. “The rest is history” says Najat.

With her savings, she traveled to work at these top restaurants. She did what she could to make it work: staying in yoga studios, cleaning bathrooms, and even relying on the kindness of strangers for accommodation. For example in Napa, California:

“I went from shop to shop, saying I need a house, or tent, or garden, or somewhere where I can sleep because tomorrow I need to be at The French Laundry, which is the best restaurant in United States. And someone gave me a room. That doesn’t happen very often, when they don’t know you. That is just because it’s written, that is because it is the path when you have good intentions and you believe in what you’re doing.”

Najat Kaanache partnered with White House Chef Bill Yosses, and even obtained an extraordinary visa under the Obama administration. She pursued her passion relentlessly, driven by her love of cooking and making people happy through her art. She also studied science at NYU and Harvard, continually expanding her knowledge. “I worked in the best restaurants in the world, just because I asked the right questions and I was sincerely honest.”

Speaking of asking the right questions, we wanted to ask what Najat’s advice would be for any first-time travelers to Morocco – and the positive impact traveling along can have.

What should the guests on our Women-Only Tours look forward to in Morocco?

“First of all, I want people to experience Morocco. Yesterday, on the train from Sevilla to Malaga, I met a woman and she said ‘I want to visit Morocco, but they said it was dangerous.’ I don’t want them to think like this. It’s a super safe country. We have more security than you can imagine. You see a police person, good, but there are even people next to you drinking coffee who are taking care and making sure that you have your security.

“You tell me: I am in New York, my car breaks, who’s gonna come to help me? Your car breaks here, they come 10 families to help you. They host you in their house. They tell you to bathe in here. They will warm water for you, even if they don’t have gas, they will warm the water by wood. They will make you dinner, and the next morning, make you breakfast and help you with your car. This doesn’t happen in many places.”

“I want these women to know that it’s super safe, it’s super nice, and that they should come here super relaxed, with their souls open, because they will feel different, magical energies. Like if they lie down in bed after two days and say, ‘wow, I never felt this way!’ That is because of the architecture, because of the food, because of the people, because of the difference in culture that they’ll have in front of them. But all that, the only thing is to open your mind, open the borders that we all as humans create in our minds, and just relax them. They are coming into country that is very well prepared to host them.

What’s your opinion on traveling solo as part of a group of women? 

“It’s magical. It’s powerful. It’s strong. You know why? Because we can educate other groups with this. We are the habits that we have around us. If we always see women in the kitchen and men in the street, this is what is going to happen. But here, if you see women together, powerful, beautiful, standing, strong, walking, elegant…People who are not used to this think, wow, there is another planet!

“There is something else happening. I think it is very important, even for me, as an individual, as a business person, as a woman, I’m the first woman who has a license for many things here in this Medina. If there are more women around my business, or more women traveling together, we are just going to advance, because we’re going to allow other women, other little girls see women going together without being handheld by a man, giving them the opportunity to question, not to remove, who they are. I tell you, when I walk in the Medina and I see a group of women together, I’m like, wow, I need more.”

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