Among the Visigoths, there is no starter, main course, and dessert that follow each other, but a single table around the hearth or campfire, where the king shares roasted meat, bread, cheese, and fermented drink with his warriors (the *comitatus*). Eating together seals loyalty: the chief who feeds his men binds their swords to him. On campaign, this table becomes frugal (marching bread, lard), at rest it becomes a banquet (game with honey, mead). Leaders like Alaric add to this what they discover at the Roman table during truces.

Wild honey from the Germanic forests and juniper berries — which grow north and south of the Alps — are the mark of Visigothic taste: they sweeten the mead of oaths and perfume the game of feasts. Where the Roman uses garum, the Goth uses honey.