This volume brings together a group of scholars to consider the rituals of eating together in the Byzantine world, the material culture of Byzantine food and wine consumption, and the transport and exchange of agricultural products. The contributors present food in nearly every conceivable guise, ranging from its rhetorical to more practical applications"such as the preparing, processing, preserving and selling of food abroad. The chapters expand on papers presented at the 37th Annual Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies, in honour of Professor A.A.M. Bryer.

Contents: Preface; Bibliography of publications by A.A.M. Bryer; Section I A Tribute to A.A.M. Bryer: A tribute to Professor Bryer, J.A. Minitz; Polla ta ete (repeat 3 times) to Bryer, J.Herrin; Bryer the anthropologist, R. Morris; Bryer the enthusiast, J.Haldon; Not the champagne bus, M. Mullett; Bryer and I - and the class of 1980-1985, C. Galatariotou. Section II Practicalities: Between the field and the plate: how agricultural products were processed into food, D. Stathakopoulos; Store in a cool and dry place: perishable goods and their preservation in Byzantium, M. Grÿnbart; Some Byzantine aromatics, A. Dalby; Stew and salted meat - opulent normality in the diet of everyday?, J. Koder. Section III Dining and its Accoutrements: Dazzling dining: banquets as an expression of imperial legitimacy, S. Malmberg; A sultan in Constantinople: the feasts of Ghiyath al-Din Kay-Khusraw I, D. Korobeinikov; Mealtime in monasteries: the culture of the Byzantine refectory, A.-M. Talbot; From 'glittering sideboard' to table: silver in the well-appointed triclinium, M. Mundell Mango. Section IV Ideology and Representation: What was kosher in Byzantium?, B. Crostini; Eat, drink...and pay the price, A. Eastmond and L. James; The changing dining habits at Christ's table, J. Vroom; 'Fish on a dish' and its table companions in 14th-century wall paintings on Venetian-dominated Crete, A.Lymberopoulou. Section V Food and the Sacred: Divine banquet: the Theotokos as a source of spiritual nourishment, M.B. Cunningham; Being a potential saint, P. Karlin-Hayter. Section VI Outside the Empire: More Malmsey, Your Grace? The export of Greek wine to England in the later Middle Ages, J. Harris; Record of Byzantine food in Chinese texts, C. Zhiqiang; Index.