At the ancient Greek table, there is no starter/main/dessert distinction but rather *sitos* (the nourishing base: barley bread, *maza* cake), *opson* (what accompanies and enhances the *sitos*: fish, vegetables, cheese) and, during the *symposion*, the *tragemata* and honey-mixed drinks. Separately, offerings are placed for the sea deities: milk, honey, and fresh cheese poured or set at the water's edge. For a Sicilian Nereid like Galatea, it is the sea's bounty, the honey of Hybla, and milk — her very name, *gala* — that structure this tribute meal.

The Hybla mountains in Sicily produced in antiquity a thyme honey renowned throughout the Greek and Roman world, celebrated by Theocritus and later by Latin poets. It is the golden, fragrant note that here links the offering, the drink, and the Sicilian sweetness — a thread of honey around the foam where Galatea lives.