As among the Greeks of Asia Minor, with whom Lydia shared customs, the meal was organized around sitos (the cereal base: wheat bread, barley cake, or maza) accompanied by opson (the relish that adds flavor: meats, cheese, olives, rich sauces). At the court of Sardis, renowned for its tryphè (softness, luxurious refinement), the opson became a spectacle: compound sauces, gold and silver vessels. The meal ended with fruits, honey pastries, and wine, a prelude to conversation.

The Greeks credited Lydian cooks with inventing rich, "mounted" preparations — foremost the kandaulos, a sauce-dish combining boiled meat, crumbled bread, Phrygian cheese, and herbs. This is matched by the omnipresence of honey and figs from a fertile land: sweetness was not an isolated dessert but a color across the whole table.