At the ceremonial table of Renaissance Rome, courses are not served as starter, main, and dessert: instead, "credence services" (cold dishes displayed on the sideboard — preserves, fruit pastes, cheeses, jellied meats) alternate with "kitchen services" (hot dishes brought from the stoves — roasts, blancmanges, fish in sauce). A grand Borgia banquet could feature a dozen such services, punctuated by spiced wines. The Valencian pope's cuisine blends Italian refinement (Maestro Martino, Platina) with the Aragonese flavors of his childhood in Xàtiva.

A marker of wealth and a bridge between Aragon and Rome: ground almonds (in milk, paste, or as a thickener) and sugar laced with fine spices (cinnamon, ginger, grains of paradise) characterize nearly every prestigious dish on Alexander VI's table, from savory-sweet blancmange to mulled wine.