The archaic Greek meal had neither starter nor dessert: it was built around the sitos, the grain base (barley cake or wheat bread), accompanied by the opson, what 'enhances' the bite (fish, cheese, olive, fig). People ate little and standing for work, more reclining for feasts. Wine came only afterward, during the symposion, always mixed with water and sometimes sweetened with honey. On the island of Ogygia, Calypso layered the mortal table with the gods' table—nectar and ambrosia—which Odysseus could never share.

For the archaic Greeks, wild honey was the only sweetener: it perfumed bread, bound cakes, sweetened wine, and served as an offering to the gods. In the hands of a goddess, it became the mortal echo of ambrosia—the sweet border between human and divine, the very theme of Calypso's love for Odysseus.