In Jewish families of Constantine, the meal revolves around the queen of semolina: a simple, hearty everyday dish during the week, the great slow-cooked Friday night dish to welcome Shabbat, honey and date pastries kept under a cloth for visits and travels, and cool drinks scented with orange blossom to cut through the southern heat. The family eats together, by hand or with a spoon, sharing the same dish placed in the center.

Ground cumin, sometimes spiced up with a bit of caraway, perfumes nearly all savory Constantinian dishes, accompanied by sweet-spicy harissa in olive oil. It is the smell of the kitchen of the Rocher, that of the stalls of the old city where Alfred grew up.