Dido at the table

In the Phoenician and Carthaginian manner, the meal is not divided into starter-main-dessert but is organized around the hearth and altar: first the daily grain porridges and barley bread, then the grilled meats and fish of royal banquets, and always, framing the meal, the sweet offering placed for the gods and the libation of wine mixed with water. Salt and fish brine bind everything together, the signature of the sea merchants.

Long before Rome fell in love with it, the Phoenicians and Carthaginians mastered the salting of fish and the fermented juice extracted from it. This amber brine, salty and deeply umami, flavored meats, vegetables, and porridges: it is the savory soul of the cuisine of maritime Carthage.