In Hume's time, the Scottish meal was not divided into starter-main-dessert but organized around a few pillars: first the 'kail' or broth, a mutton or chicken soup that opened almost every meal; then the piece of meat or offal of the day; everywhere, replacing expensive wheat bread, bannocks and oatcakes; washed down with a dram (eau-de-vie) or, among the literate and wealthy like Hume, a good claret from Bordeaux; finally, dairy desserts sweetened with honey, crowdie and cranachan. Oats ran through every course, from morning to night.

The king-grain of Scotland, oats replace wheat where it grows poorly: porridge and brose in the morning, oatcakes at every meal, thickener for broths and puddings, crunchy topping for cranachan. It was the identity ingredient that Hume found on every table in Edinburgh as well as at Ninewells.