The pointy lid is the clever bit. As the food cooks slowly, steam rises into the cone, cools at the top, and trickles back down onto the food. The pot keeps watering itself, like a tiny rain cycle. That is why a tagine can cook for hours with hardly any liquid added.
Inside the tagine there might be chicken with preserved lemon and green olives. Or lamb with prunes and almonds. Or vegetables like carrots, potatoes and pumpkin. Spices like cumin, ginger, saffron, paprika and cinnamon make the kitchen smell amazing.
Many Moroccan families eat tagine on Fridays after the midday prayer. It is a meal that brings the family around one shared dish at the table. People eat from the pot together using bread to scoop, instead of spoons.
Tagines are usually made by hand from local clay. The good ones can last a lifetime - in fact, the longer you use a tagine, the better it cooks, because the clay soaks up flavours over the years.