The ancient Greek meal is not structured as starter-main-dessert but revolves around two poles: sitos, the staple grain (barley or wheat in the form of maza, flatbread, or porridge) that forms the core of the meal, and opson, everything eaten "with" it (olives, cheese, legumes, herbs). Beyond the human table, food also rises to the gods: offerings and libations (thysia), where honey, milk, and wine are poured for the ancient powers — Titans and the dead included. Seasonal festivals like the Kronia, in honor of Cronus, overturned the social order and brought masters and servants together around the same harvest cauldron.

Under Cronus's reign, says Hesiod, the earth gave without labor and honey flowed from oaks. Honey and barley are the red thread of these recipes: barley, the grain of the sickle that harvests Cronus's crop; honey, the primordial sweetness that brings the mortal table closer to the nectar of the gods.