Among the common folk of late medieval Brittany, there was no separation of starter, main course, and dessert. Everything revolved around dark bread and the pot simmering on the hearth: the potage (what cooked in the cauldron—porridges and broths), the companage (the little that "accompanies" the bread—a cheese, honey, herbs), and the forest's bounty (what the woods and orchard offered for free: simples, hazelnuts, wild apples, honey from wild swarms). Sweet, bitter, and medicinal mingled with savory without hierarchy: a single bowl could both nourish and heal.

Nettles, plantain, wild sorrel, wild garlic, sage, mint, melilot: the "simples" that Agatha gathers on the edge of Brocéliande. A single handful of herbs turns a bowl of water and gruel into a meal and a remedy. It is her hallmark: cooking and healing come from the same wicker basket.