The ancient Greek meal revolves around two poles: sitos, the staple food made from grains (barley flatbread or bread), and opson, what is eaten 'with' it to enhance the sitos (olives, cheese, vegetables, sometimes fish). The deipnon (evening meal) ends with tragemata, little nibbled sweets — dried figs, nuts, honey — often during the symposion, where wine is always mixed with water. In Epicurus's Garden, this structure is pushed toward the greatest sobriety: sitos dominates, opson remains tiny, and pleasure arises precisely from this simplicity.

Barley maza, kneaded with water and a drizzle of oil, is the emblem of the Epicurean table: the humblest food in Greece, it suffices to appease hunger and achieve aponia (absence of pain). Olive oil, honey, and a little cheese sent by a friend are enough to turn this frugality into a feast.