Sappho at the table

The Archaic Greek meal revolves around sitos, the staple grain food — kneaded barley maza or wheat bread (artos) — accompanied by opson, meaning everything eaten "with" it: fish, cheese, vegetables, olives, fruit. After the deipnon (the meal proper) comes the symposion, the time for wine mixed with water shared in the krater, where they sing, play the lyre, and recite poems. At Sappho's home in Mytilene, this second part is inseparable from music and poetry.

Sappho herself mentions sesame wedding cakes in her verses. With thyme-scented honey from the Aegean islands, toasted sesame is the sweet signature of Lesbos: it is mixed with cheese and flour for festive treats and offerings to Aphrodite, the goddess dear to the poetess.