FormaGet FormaTrack the recipe, not just the dish name.
Tajine, couscous, harira, pastilla, breads, and home meals vary by ingredients, cooking, and portion. A useful estimate preserves that context instead of assigning one exact value to every version.
Published and last reviewed September 14, 2026 · 8-minute read
A practical recipe calculation
Record ingredients
Use edible ingredient weights and include oils, sauces, sugar, drinks, and garnishes.
Use appropriate entries
Match the food, raw or cooked state, and local product as closely as the data allow.
Measure cooked yield
Weigh the completed dish because water and fat changes affect nutrients per 100 g.
Log the portion
Divide total recipe nutrients by final yield and multiply by the amount eaten.
Why the dish name is not enough
| Variation | Example | Effect on the estimate |
|---|---|---|
| Ingredients | A tajine may use different cuts, vegetables, dried fruit, or nuts. | Changes protein, fat, carbohydrate, and energy. |
| Added fat | Oil may be measured, poured freely, shared in the pot, or left behind. | Can materially change energy density. |
| Cooked yield | Couscous can absorb different amounts of water while sauces reduce. | Changes the nutrients represented by each 100 g portion. |
| Serving size | A shared platter does not divide itself into equal portions. | Makes the amount actually eaten uncertain. |
| Name and spelling | Darija, Arabic script, French, English, and transliteration can describe the same food. | Creates search and matching ambiguity. |
Home meals, packaged foods, and restaurants
Repeated home meal
Save a custom recipe when ingredients and preparation are stable enough to represent what your household makes.
Packaged product
Prefer the current product label and correct serving amount. Recipes and labels can change.
Restaurant or family meal
Choose the closest version, adjust the visible portion, and accept a wider uncertainty range.
What remains proprietary
Forma publishes its source categories, supported search languages, edit controls, evidence, and limits. It does not publish food-search ranking, name normalization, translation mappings, deduplication, product matching, recipe resolution, source-priority logic, confidence scoring, or recommendation rules.
The public standard remains simple: every database or recipe value is an estimate for a defined food and amount. Users can edit a serving or save a more representative meal.
Frequently asked questions
How do I track a homemade Moroccan dish?
When precision matters, record the edible amount of each ingredient, account for the final cooked yield, and divide the completed recipe by the portion actually eaten.
Why can the same Moroccan dish have different calories?
Households and restaurants can use different amounts of oil, meat, grains, vegetables, sugar, and water. Cooking changes final weight, so the same dish name does not define one composition.
Can I estimate restaurant tajine or couscous?
Yes, but it remains an estimate. Choose the closest representative entry, adjust the portion, and avoid false precision when the ingredient amounts and cooked yield are unknown.
Does Forma support Darija food names?
Forma supports familiar Moroccan dish searches using common Darija, French, and English terms. The app interface itself is currently available in French and English, not Arabic.
Primary and official references
Official FAO/INFOODS country-table listing.
Journal of Food Composition and Analysis, 2020. DOI: 10.1016/j.jfca.2019.103397.
FAO guidance on ingredient values, edible portions, cooked yield, retention, and serving calculations.
Continue the nutrition library
Keep familiar meals inside the full fitness record.
Forma connects Moroccan foods, saved meals, macros, bodyweight, steps, and training in one journal.
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