Appetizers: The Americanization of Hors d’Oeuvres: The Cocktail Hour and Streamlined Menus

The introduction of the pre-dinner cocktail hour in the early twentieth century changed Americans’ view of hors d’oeuvres. Before World War I, guests at a dinner party were presumed to arrive punctually and to proceed almost immediately into the dining room. If cocktails were served, they opened the dinner, accompanying a plated appetizer, once everyone was seated at the table. This custom had changed by the 1920s, when racy hostesses served hors d’oeuvres as “accompaniments for the liquid refreshment that dodges prohibition conscientiously and yet is flavorsome enough to make the quarter hour before dinner less solemn and uninteresting than it sometimes proves” (Eaton, 1926, p. 124). After the repeal of Prohibition, the modern cocktail party burst on the scene, with a slew of recipes for hors d’oeuvres to help absorb the liquor.