Love Appetizers? You Might Have This Ancient Culture To Thank

If I'm being fully honest, I'm often more excited about the snacks than the main event, and if you're the same, well, we're in good historical company. Hundreds of years before small plates, starters, and appetizers were what they are today, the ancient Greeks were already treating pre-meal eating as its own social ritual. The symposium, where conversation and wine took center stage, required much lighter food. While historians may not go as far as calling food from these events appetizers, it's the same basic premise of sharing food, eating at a leisurely pace, and being social over light bites.

The Ancient Greeks called these early appetizers tragemata, which consisted of snacks such as olives, figs, nuts, and small pieces of bread eaten alongside wine. Nowadays, the Greek version of this would be more akin to what we know as meze – a meal made entirely of small dishes meant for enjoying drinks and conversation. Greece also had a huge influence on the invention of pizza (just don't tell the Italians), so we're not exactly surprised that they are partially to thank for another one of our favorite meal types. Having a Greek family, I can attest that this lives on in our culture; you only need to sit in a little taverna in Athens and watch the locals spend hours talking over nothing but meze and wine to know that's true.

By the 19th century, Greek taverns were known for serving small, salty dishes called mezedes consisting of the likes of olives, cheese, and cured fish that arrived gradually as drinks were poured. This wasn't food meant to satisfy hunger on its own, but instead to pace the evening like the Italian apertivo or French hors d'oeuvres. However, the truth is that modern appetizers probably didn't emerge from a single culture or moment in time. They simply evolved wherever people gathered together. And across the eastern Mediterranean and Middle East, serving small plates alongside alcohol was a good solution to a universal problem: how to extend the time at the table without gorging on big meals. 

It's that same logic that still shows up everywhere today — from French canapés to Middle Eastern or Mediterranean mezze, Japanese bar snacks, and the American tradition of lingering over shared plates during happy hour. Whether you enjoy a classic starter or you're partial to a more eccentric vintage appetizer to get people talking, we can all agree that nothing really beats some finger food while you socialize. It serves the same purpose it always has throughout history — keep people drinking, talking, and together.