The classic Greek meal clearly separates eating and drinking. The deipnon (evening meal) is built around two poles: the sitos, the cereal base (barley cake, wheat bread), and the opson, the "that-which-accompanies" — fish, vegetables, cheese, eaten on top of the base. Then comes the symposion, the shared drinking time: you recline on couches, cut the wine with water, nibble on tragemata (sweets, dried fruits) and converse. For Aristotle, this second part is also the time for philosophy.

Two golden fluids structure the entire Greek table: olive oil, the noble fat that binds, fries and perfumes savory dishes, and honey, the only known sweetener, which softens cakes, wine and offerings. To oppose or marry them is already to think about taste as Aristotle thought about the world — in pairs of opposites.