At the Assyro-Babylonian table, meals were not served in a 'starter-main-dessert' order. The naptanu ('the meal') was organized around three pillars set out together: akalu (barley bread or flatbread), sikaru (beer), and the main dish of fish or stewed meat. The finest portion was first offered to the gods and spirits on the household altar; the rest was shared. Date sweets and fruits did not close the meal but accompanied it, placed in the center for everyone to pick from.

A key condiment of ancient Mesopotamia, siqqu is a brine of small fish (sometimes locusts) fermented for a long time — the Near Eastern ancestor of garum. A few drops provide the deep, salty umami that defines the entire cuisine of the Tigris and Euphrates, from the kitchens of Nineveh to the palaces of Babylon.