What we know about appetizers

An appetizer is a food that is served before the main course or as a separate light meal. An appetizer is often consumed together with alcoholic beverages (aperitif). There are cold and hot appetizers. Appetizers are made of vegetables, fruits, mushrooms, meat, fish. In Russian cuisine as an appetizer popular salty or pickled cucumbers, sauerkraut, black and red caviar, vegetable caviar, salads, sprats and other canned fish, herring, salted fish, salted mushrooms, pirozhki, sandwiches. An appetizer can also serve as a cut: meat (sausage), fish, cheese.

Table with traditional appetizers in Ukraine

In the early twentieth century in Russia, the classic snacks for vodka were considered to be: Astrakhan herring; pickled cucumbers; baked pies with meat, fish or mushroom stuffing; paius caviar mixed with finely chopped green onions and olive oil; salted porcini mushrooms with onions, black pepper and sunflower oil.

Of course, almost all peoples of the world honor the traditions of national cuisine. This fully applies to appetizers. Therefore, despite the common purpose of appetizer dishes, the selection of products, the culture of design, presentation and consumption of appetizers in different countries can have significant differences. For example, the traditional American snack - snack - is usually designed for quick consumption "on the go" and designed for a long shelf life: chocolate bars, various chips, popcorn and corn sticks, nuts with sugar or salt, croutons.

And light snack dishes of Chinese cuisine - dim sum or dianxin - are small portions of dessert, fruits, vegetables or seafood spread on several saucers, which in Chinese tea-drinking tradition are served together with a cup of Chinese Pu'er tea, usually before dinner.

A typical dim sum breakfast in Hong Kong. From left to right and top to bottom: shrimp balls (ha gau), jasmine tea, chicken with vegetables, rice soup (two spoonfuls), steamed noodles (left), rice noodles with soy sauce (on plate), steamed warmed pork buns

In German cuisine, a typical Bavarian appetizer, obatzda (Bavarian), obatzter (German) (e.g. for beer), made (usually) of mature Camembert cheese, butter, onion, cumin and sweet red paprika, is considered traditional. In some cases, fresh soft cheese is added. It is usually served with dark rye bread, onions cut into rings, or green onions.

Obatzda

A French savory appetizer, volovan is a small-sized tower-shaped puff pastry filled with meat, fish, or mushroom ragout. A volovan is also called a puff pastry without filling. Several small circles are cut out of puff pastry, one circle is put aside for the bottom of the volovan, and the other circles are cut out to make rings. The rings are attached to the circle-bottom with whipped protein. The small inner circle serves later as the lid of the volavan. The puff pastry rises in the oven and takes the shape of a cylindrical cup. The finished vol-au-vents are filled with filling, baked again in the oven and served hot, depending on the recipe.

Volovan

A traditional hot or cold meat and vegetable appetizer in Italian cuisine, antipasto is made from typical Italian meat and seafood as well as specially prepared vegetables and served on a large plate or a rotating wooden tray before the main course, such as pasta. Antipasto is laid out on a platter in such a way as to create a composition that is harmonious not only in taste but also in appearance.