besides meaning the sweet liquid which bees gather from flowers to produce honey, refers to the drink of the gods in classical mythology and, by extension, any particularly delicious drink. Nectar has thus a more restricted meaning than ambrosia, which can refer to both the food and drink of the gods, although commonly used of the food alone.
In the Homeric poems nectar is imagined as red (like wine) and as being served to the gods by Hebe, the divine wine-waitress (‘cup-bearer’ is the more traditional term). The ‘nectar of bees’, meaning honey, is a term first used by Euripides in the play Bacchae (c.400 bc).
Alan Davidson was a distinguished author and publisher, and one of the world's best-known writers on fish and fish cookery. In 1975 he retired early from the diplomatic service—after serving in, among other places, Washington, Egypt, Tunisia, and Laos, where he was British Ambassador—to pursue a fruitful second career as a food historian and food writer extraordinaire. Among his popular books are Seafood of South-East Asia, North Atlantic Seafood, and Mediterranean Seafood. In 2003, shortly before his death, he was awarded the Erasmus Prize for his contribution to European culture.
