In Ugarit and the Phoenician cities, the meal revolves around the hearth and the altar: barley or wheat bread forms the basis of every bite, dipped in olive oil and accompanied by legumes, olives, and dried fruits. On feast days, the sacrificial meat — especially the bull, noble animal of Baal — is shared during a communal banquet (marzeaḥ). Wine flows as a libation to the god before being drunk by the guests. There is no service in successive courses: everything is placed together on mats or low tables, and the bread is broken by hand.

Virgin olive oil from the Canaanite hills is the common thread of this cuisine: bread is dipped in it, vegetables are drizzled with it, offerings are anointed with it. Along with the ember fire where sacrificial meat is grilled, it embodies the opulence that Baal, master of the rain that makes the olive tree grow, is supposed to grant to the faithful.