In Athens, the meal is organized around sitos — the staple food made from barley or wheat (maza flatbread, plain bread) — accompanied by opson, the "what-goes-with-it": fish, vegetables, cheese, olives. People sit or recline, then come the tragēmata, the sweet treats at the end of the meal (dried figs, nuts, sesame, honey cakes) nibbled during the symposion, the moment when wine mixed with water is drunk while discussing and reciting verses. The well-off citizen Euripides knew these simple yet refined tables, where words counted more than abundance.

Harvested from the Attic hills scented with wild thyme, this amber, resinous honey was the gastronomic pride of Athens. Since sugar was unknown to the Greeks, it sweetened cakes, drinks, and fruits, and served as an offering to the gods. It appears throughout the Greek meal.