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Unlike soups or puddings, appetisers do not have to follow rules or orders. They may be served as a main course, in tiny servings or abundantly with apéritifs, as a complement to main dishes, as nibbles with late afternoon drinks, or at sunrise before breakfast.
Appetisers, sometimes called "Starters", are Eye Candy to the Foodie. Throughout history, all cultures have indulged in appetisers, occasionally in such significant and varied numbers that a steady stream of starters replaced the main course. However, they are generally served before the main course to whet guests' appetites and act as an introduction to the coming menu.
Ancient Greeks and Romans enjoyed all-night parties gorging on continuous servings of salted seafood, olives, egg-based dishes, snails, truffles, and cheeses rich in herbs and vegetables coated with garum, an infamous fish sauce described by archaeologists and historians as a disgusting, stinking liquid derived from rotting fish. The evidence suggests that the sauce was the final result of combining the smashed innards of fatty fish, mainly anchovies, sprats, sardines, mackerel, or tuna, and then fermenting them in brine till the liquid was thick and slushy. Yuk! It's a recipe outside of this collection.
Today's insanely delicious appetisers were born from the sacks of lentils, wheat, rice and dried fruit of Bedouin nomads who roamed the deserts and were the mainstay food of merchants who worked the Silk Road. They introduced figs and dates, cherries, melons, pomegranates, grapes, almonds, pistachios, walnuts, caraway, coriander, and sugar cane to the Chinese, who carefully cultivated, then sold on as pickled and fermented additives for nourishment and flavouring to travellers who combined their cultural cooking traditions and practices to produce a medley of small plates called Mezze.
Mezze is still the glory of Middle Eastern cuisine. The following recipes from Australia's and New Zealand's culturally diverse populations have been selected for their effortless preparation, nourishing ingredients, and gastronomically satisfying, leisurely dining.
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