“The appetizer is the first course of a meal and it is meant to stimulate one’s appetite. Appetizers can be served as an hors d’oeuvres or before dinner. They are usually light and often salty dishes, such as fried wontons or shrimp cocktail, which people use to make their stomachs ready for the main course. The origins of this word comes from Latin words meaning “to whet” (appetere) and “to desire” (orere). It was also used in Ancient Greece with the intent that if guests were thirsty they would drink less wine at dinner time because they had already been drinking during the appetizer hour.”

– Jay Tecson