Nibbles for Any Time of Day

You might think this section is all about hors d’oeuvres or tidbits to go with drinks before dinner, and in a way, you would be right. Indeed, any of the following little dishes would be welcome served that way. But I imagine them for the kind of informal, sitting-around-the-table nibbling that happens at other times of day, whenever friends and family gather. After all, a gathering is not a gathering without a little something good to eat.

The verb “to snack,” for some reason, has a negative connotation these days. Constant admonitions: No snacking between meals. No “snack food,” which is presumably the same as “junk food.” But didn’t a snack used to be something good? As in, are you hungry?—let me make you a little snack. Or, better have a snack, dinner is hours away. Even the proverbial midnight snack doesn’t have to mean something bad. A good snack, for me, should generate a little excitement, and if there’s something communal and hands-on about it, so much the better.