Among the Friars Preachers in the 13th century, meals did not follow the starter-main-dessert pattern but the Rule. First came the "general" (the common portion for all: bread and vegetable pottage), then the "pittance" (the cooked dish that accompanied the bread, often vegetables or, on meat days, fish), and finally wine mixed with water. Everything was eaten in silence during the holy reading. Meat was banned from the ordinary diet and reserved for the sick. Feast days relaxed this sobriety somewhat, while the Arab-Sicilian cuisine of Thomas's native region introduced sugar, almonds, and sesame into sweets and remedies.

Pounded and pressed with water, almonds yield a white "milk" that replaced animal milk on abstinence days and thickened pottages, sweets, and drinks. In the Kingdom of Sicily where Thomas was born, heir to Arab-Norman gardens, the almond reigned supreme: it bridged the austere refectory and the refined confectionery of his childhood.