Couscous (/ˈkʊskʊs/ or /ˈkuːskuːs/; Berber: ⵙⴽⵙⵓ, seksu, Arabic: كسكس, kuskus or كسكسو kseksou) is a Berber traditional North African dish of semolina (granules of durum wheat), which is cooked by steaming. It is traditionally served with a meat or vegetable stew spooned over it. Couscous is a staple food throughout the North African cuisines of Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Mauritania and Libya and to a lesser extent in the Middle East and Trapani in Sicily.
Couscous was voted as the third-favourite dish of French people in 2011 in a study by TNS Sofres for magazine Vie Pratique Gourmand, and the first in the east of France.
The original name is derived from the Berber seksu or kesksu, meaning "well rolled", "well formed", or "rounded".
Numerous different names and pronunciations for couscous exist around the world. Couscous is /ˈkʊskʊs/ or /ˈkuːskuːs/ in the United Kingdom and only the latter in the United States. It is in Arabic: كسكسي, pronounced kuskusi, while it is also known in Morocco as seksu or kesksu ; in Algeria as seksu or ṭa`ām (طعام, literally meaning "food") ; in Tunisia and Libya kosksi or kuseksi , in Egypt kuskusi (كسكسي), ; and keskes in Tuareg.
The Secret of the Grain (French: La graine et le mulet, also released internationally as Couscous) is a 2007 Franco-Tunisian drama film directed by Abdellatif Kechiche. The film stars Habib Boufares as an aging immigrant from the Maghreb whose ambition to establish a successful restaurant as an inheritance for his large and disparate family meets sceptical opposition from the French bureaucracy.
The French title of the film refers to a "grain of couscous" and to mullet, a type of small fish, both popular in Tunisian cuisine. The two ingredients constitute both the staple of his extended family's diet and the menu on which he plans to establish his restaurant.
Slimane Beiji (Habib Boufares) is the divorced head of a Franco-Arabic family living in Sete. As he is being forced out of his job at the local shipyard, he interacts in a series of extended vignettes with various members of his extended family including his ex-wife, his sons and daughters, their husbands and wives, and his grandchildren. Determined to leave a legacy for his beloved family, and encouraged by his long-term partner's daughter, Rym, (Hafsia Herzi) he pursues his dream of converting a dilapidated boat into a family restaurant that will specialise in his ex-wife's fish couscous, a meal that she prepares for the entire family every Sunday.
Turn your eyes to me
I am watching every move you make
What should I wear today on my sleeve?
And let's take a step and move away
Underground is where we'll stay for a while
And I will mix my tongue with strings and drums
And give my soul away
Can you hear them come?
Strings and drums
And you're my mystery
You are always at my fingertips
Without you, I'm just bones and skin
And I will lick your cuts and be your bruise
Until I fade from deepest blue into white
And I will mix my tongue with strings and drums
And give my soul away
Can you hear them come?
Strings and drums
And I will change my words from nouns to verbs
And never be ashamed
Can you hear them come?
Strings and drums
And I am writing myself clean
And I am selling myself cheap
And I am aching for a touch or a taste
And I'm aching, aching, aching now
I'm holding, holding, holding out
I'm calling, calling, calling out to you
And I will mix my tongue with strings and drums
And give my soul away
Can you hear them come?
Strings and drums
And I will mix my tongue with strings and drums
And give my soul away
Can you hear them come?
Strings and drums
And I will change my words from nouns to verbs
And never be ashamed
Can you hear them come?
Strings and drums.