At a 12th-century king's table, meals are not served as starter-main-dessert but as a succession of 'dishes' brought in waves: first pottages and broths, then the 'rost' (roasted meats and game covered in spiced sauces), the 'entremets', and finally the sweet and spiced 'issue de table' (hippocras and wafers). Guests share a common trencher — a thick slice of stale bread used as a plate — and eat with their hands, using a knife to cut. Rank determines seating and the best cuts of meat.

In this legend woven from crossings between Ireland, Cornwall, and Brittany, spice is the ultimate maritime luxury. Cinnamon, ginger, and saffron, unloaded from merchant ships, perfume both the wine of love and the sauces of feasts: they mark the table of a high-ranking knight.