Saturday, May 19, 2007

Z is for Zakuski

What do you think about appetizers? With my unrefined palate and background, I don’t have a lot of experience with them. Probably the most common first course for me (when I have more than one course) is chips and salsa, although I’ll get the occasional Caesar salad.

5 comments:

Erin said...

This one made me hungry! I love hors d'oeuvres and antipasto. I could make a meal of them. My mom would sometimes in the summer make me a "snack tray" for lunch, with olives, little pickles, summer sausage, cheese cubes, crackers. I loved it.

kc said...

I heart appetizers, especially if they are pretty to look at.

kc said...

One thing I adored about France was the appetizers at every meal. A meal there without an appetizer was seen as sex without foreplay — possible, sometimes even pragmatic given time constraints, but not desirable.

Erin said...

I've never been to France, but from what I understand, the French are very into multi-course meals, which I love.

cl said...

She nailed the truth about appetizers: "The main problem with them, almost a legendary one, is that if they are enjoyed to the hilt, the meal that follows is, can be, and usually must be more or less ignored."
KC, I love the idea of a multi-course fest like that, where cheese is served after the main course. I would eat it to enjoy it after a meal, whereas before I'd eat it to tide over my hunger.

I could eat nothing but appetizers, maybe because they're so naughty and baseless. Main courses always have some redeeming value to them ... a protein, a vegetable. Appetizers can be breaded or fried or fatty, and their job is to treat you, not satiate you.

We've spoiled family dinners with appetizers. Jenn and I now have a rule that only one of us can bring one that includes cream cheese.