Fish, meat, fowl, and pork wars

Fish, from mullet to tuna to sardines, was boiled, fried, stuffed with dough and spices, baked in salt, marinated or pickled in vinegar, stewed in tagines, or turned into fishcakes. Coriander, fennel, garlic, pepper, a hint of saffron, and lots of eggs were the typical accompaniments. However, fish later took second place to meat, the staple diet of the new fundamentalist rulers from Morocco’s southern mountains, and only the poorer classes living near the coast continued to eat it, chiefly sardines.