Thales at the table

The Archaic Greek meal revolves around two poles: the sitos, the staple cereal food (barley cake or bread), and the opson, what 'accompanies' and enlivens the bite — fish, olives, cheese, legumes. In Miletus, a seafaring city facing the Aegean Sea, the opson tends toward fish. The main meal (deipnon) is taken in the evening; drink (kykeon during the day, watered wine at the symposion) punctuates the day. No starter-main-dessert: everything is set out together, with sweets (figs, honey) simply closing the gesture.

Barley (krithê), toasted then ground into alphita, is the daily grain of Ionia, more rustic and faster-growing than wheat on these dry lands of Asia Minor. Paired with a drizzle of green olive oil, it is the true signature of this table: the food of the wise, frugal and clear, like the thought of Thales.