Appetizers: Influences beyond the French

Americans who have not assimilated the Anglo-French style of dining have different appetizer traditions. Perhaps most familiar is the Italian antipasto, meaning “before the meal.” The dishes serving as the antipasto vary with the cook’s budget and regional heritage; they may be modest grilled vegetables or rich cured meats. The eastern Mediterranean and Middle Eastern mezze (derived from the Persian for taste or relish), found wherever Greek and Arab populations settled, typically present baba ghanoush, tzanziki, hummus, and taramasalata, all scooped with bits of flat breads. The Scandinavian-inspired smörgåsbord (“table of buttered bread”) groans under small, open-faced sandwiches covered with herring, salmon, and other fishes and may serve as a meal in itself. Authentic Russian zakuska can be found in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, where plates brimming with smoked and cured fishes, pickled and stuffed vegetables, meat-filled pastries, and the omnipresent caviar vie for table space among frosty bottles of vodka. The tapas bar is at home in cities with a Spanish population, allowing patrons to snack on small plates of marinated vegetables and seafood and the signature chorizo and jamón, while imbibing sherry, sangria, or cocktails. Chinatowns bustle with dim sum (“so close to my heart”) trolleys delivering little baskets of dumplings, spareribs, and the like, which can be eaten for breakfast or lunch, but never dinner.