At the court of Fez, the royal meal is not divided into starter-main-dessert but unfolds as a succession of abundance placed on large copper trays, all shared with the right hand around a single cloth. It opens with bread and slow-cooked sweet-savory dishes; couscous sits at the center as a nourishing base; festive meats (méchoui, mrouzia) mark days of ceremony; sweets (honey, almonds, fritters) and rose- and mint-scented drinks punctuate and close the meal, wine being forbidden. Travel preserves and road provisions accompany the court's movements between Fez, Meknès and Tlemcen.

Marinid cuisine is recognizable by the union of savory and sweet: meats bound with honey, perfumed with a blend of spices ("the best of the shop", ras el-hanout: cinnamon, ginger, long pepper, mace, lavender), greased with smen (fermented clarified butter) and gilded with saffron. This is the hallmark of the opulence of medieval Maghreb courts, already recorded in the Andalusian-Maghrebi cookbooks of the 13th century.