Pepin the Short at the table

At the Carolingian court, there was no distinction between starter, main course, and dessert as we know it today. Everything arrived together or almost on large tables: the wheat porridge (the *puls* inherited from Rome) served as a nourishing base, roasted meats took center stage on feast days, wheat bread served as plate and utensil, and honey sweetened both meats and drinks. The rhythm was dictated by the Church: meat days and lean days (fish, vegetables). They drank a lot — wine for the nobles, ale and mead for everyone.

Before the conquest of the great spice routes, the Franks flavored and sweetened with what they had at hand: honey from monastic beehives (used as sugar, glaze, and base for mead) and powerful herbs like lovage, savory, or sage, grown in the gardens of palaces and abbeys. This is the gustatory hallmark of Pepin's table: a marriage of sweet-honeyed and lively herbs.