Historic importance and garnishesh of appetizers?

Answer 1

The Ancient Romans and Greeks are depicted lounging with trays of fresh fruit, wine, olives and cheese. Their feasting style surely inspired our modern-day appetizers. Their meals are said to have been (pardon the choice of words) an orgy of Hors D'oeuvre. These included fish and seasoned vegetables also. The main course (whenever they got to it) featured some of the same foods, in ever larger quantities.

All through history, those who had the means to secure large quantities of food, and to entertain, have enjoyed stretching the meal time and conversation experience by serving a variety of successive courses, beginning with finger foods, many of which were often on the salty side, to stimulate the appetite. There is a sense of leisure and abandonment to it all; and certainly of abundance.

During the Renaissance (14th to 17th century), physicians recommended eating small morsels of salty meats prior to a meal in order to prepare the digestive system for the main course and to ensure proper digestion. Appetizers have been served in nearly all cultures. Historians believe this practice evolved quite naturally after we set aside our hunter-gatherer lifestyle and became sedentary; perhaps an instinctive evolution of our grazing days, when small bites of fruit and nuts indeed set the tone for the long-awaited real meal.

Prior to the nineteenth century, appetizers were typically available throughout a meal. Then, the succession of courses we know today became common practice. At this time, appetizers change radically, becoming an ever more refined aspect of the meal and becoming a separate course altogether. This, too , is the time when the term "appetizer" enters common usage.