''Opson'' () and ''sitos'' (σίτος) are an important division in Ancient Greek foodways. Opson is the 'relish' that complements the sitos; sitos is the

staple food A staple food, food staple, or simply staple, is a food that is eaten often and in such quantities that it constitutes a dominant portion of a standard diet for an individual or a population group, supplying a large fraction of energy needs an ...

part of the

meal A meal is an occasion that takes place at a certain time and includes consumption of food. The English names used for specific meals vary, depending on the speaker's culture, the time of day, or the size of the meal. A meal is different from a ...

, i.e. grains like

wheat Wheat is a group of wild and crop domestication, domesticated Poaceae, grasses of the genus ''Triticum'' (). They are Agriculture, cultivated for their cereal grains, which are staple foods around the world. Well-known Taxonomy of wheat, whe ...

barley Barley (), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains; it was domesticated in the Fertile Crescent around 9000 BC, giving it nonshattering spikele ...

, and pulses like

chickpeas The chickpea or chick pea (''Cicer arietinum'') is an annual legume of the family Fabaceae, subfamily Faboideae, cultivated for its edible seeds. Its different types are variously known as gram," Bengal gram, garbanzo, garbanzo bean, or Egypt ...

and

fava beans ''Vicia faba'', commonly known as the broad bean, fava bean, or faba bean, is a species of vetch, a flowering plant in the pea and bean family Fabaceae. It is widely cultivated as a crop for human consumption, and also as a cover crop. Vari ...

. Although any kind of complement to the

staple Staple may refer to: *Staple food, a foodstuff that forms the basic constituent of a diet *Staple (fastener), a small formed metal fastener **Surgical staple Arts, entertainment, and media *Staple (band), a Christian post-hardcore band **Staple ( ...

, even

salt In common usage, salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl). When used in food, especially in granulated form, it is more formally called table salt. In the form of a natural crystalline mineral, salt is also known as r ...

, could be categorized as ''opson'', the term was also commonly used to refer to the most esteemed kind of relish: fish. Hence a diminutive of ''opson'', ''opsarion'' (ὀψάριον), provides the modern Greek word for fish: ''psari'' (ψάρι). ''Opson'' can also be used to mean 'prepared dish' (plural ''opsa'').

Morality

Because it was considered the more pleasurable part of any meal, ''opson'' was the subject of some anxiety among ancient Greek moralists, who coined the term '' opsophagia'' to describe the vice of those who took too much ''opson'' with their ''sitos''. The central focus of Greek personal morality on

sophrosyne Sophrosyne () is an ancient Greek concept of an ideal of excellence of character and soundness of mind, which when combined in one well-balanced individual leads to other qualities, such as temperance, moderation, prudence, purity, decorum, ...

(approximately, moderation and temperate self-control) made ''opsophagia'' a matter of concern for moralists and satirists in the classical period. The term ''

opsophagos ''Opsophagos'' () was a type of ancient Greek person who exhibited a seemingly uncontrollable desire for ''opson,'' or relishes. The vice of the ''opsophagos'' was ''opsophagia'', for which the closest English equivalent is ''gourmandise''. Howev ...

'', literally opson''-eater', is used by classical authors to refer to people who, almost always, are fanatical about

seafood Seafood is any form of Marine life, sea life regarded as food by humans, prominently including Fish as food, fish and shellfish. Shellfish include various species of Mollusca, molluscs (e.g., bivalve molluscs such as clams, oysters, and mussel ...

, e.g.

Philoxenus of Leucas Philoxenus or Philoxenos (Greek for " lover of foreigners" or "hospitable") is the name of several prominent ancient Greeks: * Philoxenus of Alexandria, an ancient Greek grammarian and linguist *Philoxenus of Cythera, an ancient Greek dithyrambic ...

Etymology

The complicated semantics of the word ''opson'' and its derivatives made the word a matter of concern for Atticists during the

Second Sophistic The Second Sophistic is a literary-historical term referring to the Greek writers who flourished from the reign of Nero until c. 230 AD and who were catalogued and celebrated by Philostratus in his ''Lives of the Sophists''. However, some recent ...

. Plato, probably mistakenly, derived the word ''opson'' from the verb ἕψω ― 'to boil'. The words have made their way into English as

loan-word A loanword (also a loan word, loan-word) is a word at least partly assimilated from one language (the donor language) into another language (the recipient or target language), through the process of borrowing. Borrowing is a metaphorical term t ...

s, as have derivatives like "opsophagos". The term ''parásītos'' (πᾰράσῑτος) is also the root of the English word

parasite Parasitism is a Symbiosis, close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives (at least some of the time) on or inside another organism, the Host (biology), host, causing it some harm, and is Adaptation, adapted str ...

Similar concepts in other cultures

''Opson'' is somewhat equivalent to

banchan ''Banchan'' ( ; ; ) are small side dishes served along with cooked rice in Korean cuisine. ''Banchan'' are often set in the middle of the table to be shared. At the center of the table is the secondary main course, such as ''galbi'' or ''bulg ...

Korean cuisine Korean cuisine is the set of foods and culinary styles which are associated with Korean culture. This cuisine has evolved through centuries of social and political change. Originating from ancient Prehistoric Korea, agricultural and nomad ...

and

okazu ''Okazu'' ( or ; ; ) is a Japanese word meaning a side dish to accompany rice; subsidiary articles of diet.''Kenkyusha's New Japanese-English Dictionary'', They are cooked and seasoned in such a way as to match well when eaten with rice, and a ...

Japanese cuisine Japanese cuisine encompasses the regional and traditional foods of Japan, which have developed through centuries of political, economic, and social changes. The traditional cuisine of Japan (Japanese language, Japanese: ) is based on rice with m ...

. The opson/sitos division also resembles the cài ( 菜)/fàn (

飯飯, meaning "cooked rice", may refer to: * Rice in Chinese cuisine *'' Meshi'', rice in Japanese cuisine See also * *Bap (food) ''Bap'' () is a Korean name for cooked rice prepared by boiling rice or other grains, such as black rice, barley, ...

) division in

Mandarin Chinese Mandarin ( ; zh, s=, t=, p=Guānhuà, l=Mandarin (bureaucrat), officials' speech) is the largest branch of the Sinitic languages. Mandarin varieties are spoken by 70 percent of all Chinese speakers over a large geographical area that stretch ...

, literally vegetables/cooked grain.

References

Ancient Greek cuisine Greek cuisine Historical foods {{AncientGreece-stub