Theodora at the table

In Byzantium, meals were not divided into starter-main-dessert. Instead, there was the ariston, a light meal taken in the morning or midday, and the deipnon, the grand evening meal. At the imperial table of the Sacred Palace, this deipnon unfolded in successive courses where fish, meats, vegetables, and honey sweets often arrived together on large silver platters, accompanied by wines mixed with water and fragrant sauces. White bread accompanied everything, and sweet mingled with savory without clear boundaries.

A fermented fish sauce inherited from Rome, garon is the salty soul of Byzantine cuisine. A few amber drops replace our salt and give almost any dish that umami depth the Ancients called the 'taste of the sea.' It is even blended with honey and wine for sweet-and-sour sauces.