RABAT, Morocco - From ancient Arabs to Williams-Sonoma shoppers.

It's the unlikely path of the tagine, the signature slow-cooked and heavily seasoned dish of this North African nation that recently has been co-opted by adventurous American gourmets.

But it's a bit of an oversimplification to call tagine ''a dish,'' for the term refers not only to a multitude of stews that might feature lamb, chicken or fruits and vegetables, but also to the unusual conical vessels in which they are cooked.

''You don't need a tagine to make the dishes, but without it you are losing romance, a certain color, a certain richness and intense flavor,'' says Paula Wolfert, who pioneered North African cuisine in America with her 1973 cookbook, ''Couscous and Other Good Food from Morocco.''

When Wolfert tested the recipes in her book, she used an enameled cast-iron Dutch oven because at the time few Americans owned tagines, which originated as unglazed clay cookpots with the nomadic Berbers of North Africa.

Today, they are available in numerous styles - ceramic, stainless steel, cast iron and silicone - from upscale producers and retailers, including Williams-Sonoma, All-Clad, Le Creuset and Emile Henry.

''If you have your fancy remodeled kitchen and trophy cookware, you need your tagine,'' says Kemp Minifie, executive food editor at Gourmet magazine. ''And Americans love the exotic.''

Originally used on slow-burning embers around the fire, the cone-shaped top was designed to retain moisture - the steam from slowly cooking food rises to the top, then condenses and falls back into the dish.

''You use a very gentle heat working from the bottom up,'' says Wolfert. ''The point of a real tagine, authentic tagine, is to start low and stay low.''

Today, some Moroccans have abandoned the tagine for the speedier pressure cooker, but unglazed clay tagines remain a staple of homes and markets.

''There is something special about unglazed clay and the taste of the earth,'' says Wolfert.

Popular traditional tagines include chicken with olives and preserved lemon; meatballs in tomato sauce with eggs; lamb with prunes, almonds and onions; as well as simple tagines of meat and the seasonal vegetables.

For serving, Moroccan families often sit around one piping hot, communal tagine pot at the table and use fresh bread to mop up the juices and scoop up the vegetables. The meat is saved until last, when it is divided up among the family.

''This is absolutely not the fast-food of Morocco,'' says Larbi El Attar, who sells tagines in the Moroccan city of Sale.

Tagines have been on a slow rise from obscurity in the U.S. Gourmet magazine ran its first lamb tagine recipe in 1968, though the recipes instructed readers to use a casserole dish.

Le Creuset introduced its best-selling tagine 10 years ago. But it's during the past five years that tagines seemed to gain traction. Kitchen goods catalogs feature multiple models and the Internet offers dozens of retail sources, including Tagines.com.

In 2005, French ceramic cookware maker Emile Henry launched the Flame Top Tagine, which unlike traditional clay tagines can go from cold to hot and withstand the high heat of a direct burner.

Demand has been high enough that this year the company introduced a new color, bringing Emile Henry's total tagine offers to two sizes in four colors, ranging in price from $115 to $150.

Chuck Williams, founder of gourmet retailer Williams-Sonoma, says his stores periodically carried tagines, but recent interest in North African foods prompted the company to regularly offer a $150 Le Creuset tagine starting in 2005.

And the culinary store took the trend a step further by developing a packaged tagine sauce and seasoning blend rub to make North African-style cooking more convenient.

''Customers were interested in more spice in their palate,'' says Sally Geller, food buyer for Williams-Sonoma. ''We created these blends that made it easy to turn chicken or beef into a wonderful tagine meal.''

Tagine recipes also are becoming more common in food magazines. Gourmet magazine featured a recipe for chicken tagine with apricots and spiced nuts as recently as its February issue. Though it still called for a heavy pot, not a traditional tagine.

''We want people to make these delicious recipes and not be turned off by the requirement of a special pot,'' said Minifie. ''Though nothing is quite so dramatic as to serve it in a real tagine.''

It's great party food, added Minifie. ''Just to think - you bring out this dramatic looking pot and you lift the lid. The aromas come out and people love it. It makes stew very elegant,'' she says.

Minifie and Wolfert insist tagine cooking is not intimidating, which is why it is popular. ''People can get this exotic flavored food and the spices are all in the supermarket and they are familiar with it,'' says Minifie.

''It's a lot of bang, without a lot of pressure.''

And tagine, the cookware, can be used for dishes other than tagine, the food.

''You can do anything with a tagine,'' says Wolfert, who recommends French-style slow-cooked scrambled eggs, gratins or even cakes. ''Anything that needs to cook slowly.''

Meanwhile, Wolfert says she hopes to update her 35-year-old cookbook, which can easily be converted to tagine cooking by reducing the water by three-fourths.

''I want to redo it. Because now there will be enough people around who have the clay pot, or who can easily get one,'' she said.