Morgan le Fay at the table

At the table of a noble lady of high medieval Brittany, the meal unfolds in successive "courses" brought from the kitchen: one begins with pottages and broths, continues with roasts and fish enlivened with spices and verjuice, and concludes with fruits, chamber spices, and mead. No starter-main-dessert: everything arrives in waves, sweet and savory mingled, on long tables covered with white cloths, each guest serving themselves from a bread trencher.

Avalon, the island where Morgana rules, is called by Geoffrey of Monmouth *insula pomorum*, "the isle of apples." The fruit—fresh, cooked in honey, pressed into cider, or preserved for winter—is the gourmet thread running through this enchantress-healer's table, at once festive food and remedy.