Hot Hors D’Oeuvres and Cold Platters

There are no Chinese hot hors d’oeuvres if the phrase is used to mean neat finger food to serve at a standing reception, such as a cocktail party. The Chinese simply do not entertain at home standing up. The standard greeting to guests is Chin tsuo, which means, “Please sit down.” It’s not that the Chinese don’t appreciate the good fellowship of milling around, sipping and nibbling in between floating pleasantries—in fact they love doing this—but they indulge only in public places, such as a temple mall or a city bazaar. There friends saunter from one food stall to another, nibbling such exotic foods as a piece of deep-fried bean curd coated with chili paste, a morsel of roasted squid, a succulent smoked duck tongue, or a slice of cured and meat-filled pig’s stomach, as tasty as the best country ham in the world.