Cider and liquor in the continental UCNA

"In Brittany," says Wikipedia, "crêpes are traditionally served with cider." Which brings us to the other important thing about foodways: alcohol.

 Iberia is part of the wine belt of Europe, and always has been. That survived the Moorish conquest (Andalusis quickly developed a pan-Islamic reputation for being lush); it survives to the present day IRL. Presumably, given that Moorish civilization survives that long too, Moorish drinking tastes are going to favor wine; there are distinct beer regions in the New World, but the UCNA's not one of them because beer is more associated with its immigrant population. And since most of the New World is not historic wine country, and wasn't until very recently, that shortage of wine (along with the shortage of fresh olives) is going to be a big feature of the New World Moorish diet. Presumably Khalwati Sufis are going to rejoice in this, which will establish the archetype of "dry wineless al-Aqsain" even more firmly.

You know where else is part of the European wine belt, though? France. France-Outremer is going to experience the same kind of problem that the Bilad al-Aqsa does. And while the first trans-Atlantic Muslim pilgrims may be quite all right with the idea of a dry country, the first French pilgrims need wine for religious reasons, and aren't going to have any to hand.

The French Connection

Like the IRL New French colonists, the Montagnards are a pretty diverse bunch, but they have a very pronounced Norman-Breton streak: i.e. they're coming from the heart of French cider country. This, unlike their fish dishes, does transplant very well to continental America; cidre is going to be as well-established in France-Outremer as it was in historic colonial America, and for the same reasons. (Possibly even better-established; even if "France" has expanded to include Wallonia, France is historically much less of a beer country.)

Not all Montagnard foodways are shared with later French Catholic settlers, but crêpes and cider are. Both are straightforward to make with the ingredients at hand, and they go well together too. Those two things lend themselves to becoming established, and even after the Industrial Revolution changes the foodways they'll remain standard since time immemorial.

(The establishment of continental America as a cider culture, incidentally, also reinforces British colonial cider cultures. IRL, Irish cider styles never really transplanted outside of Ireland, and whatever English cider styles crossed over in the colonial period died out with the triumph of beer. In Andalusada, by contrast, the establishment of a cider market is going to reinforce that.)

Uisce beatha vs. eau de vie

Whiskey culture in America comes originally from the Scotch-Irish. (It's part of why it's "whiskey" with an E.) Butterflying the Scotch-Irish presence away changes that: outside of the Anglo-Scottish coastal breakaways (and New Ireland, and the Anglo-Scottish holdings that we call "Canada" and they call something else), the Gaelic uisce beatha is basically unknown. The standard water of life is, instead, some variant on the French equivalent, eau de vie. And, because of the initial Norman connection, a much larger chunk of American liquor is going to be apple-based.

Probably the first New World hard liquor is going to be something freeze-distilled like applejack, although certainly not called that. (What it'd be called, I have no idea; what's northern French for "jacking"?) After the UCNA is a bit more settled, I'm pretty sure that freeze-distilled cider will give way to something much closer to Calvados, although obviously not called that.

(Which suggests that if and as grain alcohols take over, a number of cheap apple-flavored drinks are going to come up too, just to offer high proofs at the lower end of the price range while keeping something like a recognizable flavor.)