The ancient Greek meal revolves around the sîtos, the staple cereal food (barley cake or porridge, wheat bread), accompanied by the ópson, the "what-goes-with-it": olives, cheese, legumes, fish, sometimes a bit of meat on sacrifice days. Little is drunk during the meal; afterwards, at the sympósion, wine mixed with water is shared, along with figs and honey sweets, while discussing and telling stories — the favorite ground of Aesop.

Toasted then ground barley (álphita) is the heart of the archaic Greek table: kneaded raw into a cake or diluted into a drink, it nourishes both the poor and the wise. Honey, the only known sweetener, is its luminous counterpart, from offering cakes to dessert fruits.