Mouloud Féraoun tells us about the fig …
“These joys, these pleasures, these happiness, only we know them when we go in the morning to the fields to pick in the dew. At the restaurant tables, I saw people cut the fig with a knife, sprinkle it with fine sugar and take it with the tip of the lips in small pieces that cause pity. Isn’t that a sacrilege? What a sad end for a fig! No, it is eaten in one bite! Two at most, when we are delicate. We hold it by the peduncle, the eyes are the first to feast on it, then, without ceremony. We must tear off this peduncle, wipe away the oozing milk and offer it all, as God gives it to you. Because it is perfect like a divine dish that does not need any preparation”.
Mouloud Feraoun, Days of Kabylia (1954) (He was killed by OAS in 1962).