The marzeaḥ is the great banquet-fraternity of the elite and the gods of Ugarit, attested in the tablets of Ras Shamra. It does not serve successive courses like a starter and dessert: instead, roasted sacrificial meat, barley flatbreads, honeyed fruits, olives, cheese, and above all jars of wine drunk to intoxication are placed side by side on mats and low tables. It is a meal of shared abundance where food first honors the divinity — El, father of the gods — before nourishing the guests, in a single gesture of communion between heaven and the table.

Cold-pressed in stone presses of the land of Canaan, olive oil perfumes, preserves, and anoints everything: meat, bread, offerings. More than an ingredient, it is the binder of all Canaanite cuisine and the precious gift poured on the altar of El.