At the court of Constantinople, the meal (ariston at midday, deipnon in the evening) is not arranged as starter-main-dessert but is organized around bread (artos) that is broken and opson, the "what-goes-with-bread" (fish, legumes, or spiced meat). Wine is drunk diluted with water, and the Orthodox calendar divides the year into meat days and long fasts during which the entire court, including the emperor, eats sparingly. Honey sweets and fruits close the great festive tables.

A fermented fish brine inherited from Rome, garos is the liquid salt of Byzantine cuisine: a few drops give a stew or roast that salty-umami depth that marks the imperial table. It is, however, banned on fast days, when olive oil and vinegar take over. For the festive recipes of this emperor of Chios, we also encounter mastic from the island, a fragrant resin prized at court.