Appetizers

They were once called appetizers and are now identified as starters. I am not sure how other countries serve starters, but I see these selections growing larger and larger on restaurant menus.

It's all based on math and profit-making. If you order two or three appetizers or starters, that adds up to more than an entree meal. Many diners will feel cheated they didn't order an entree, so they order one and bring it home. Americans like to eat until they explode, and this trend fills the coffers of the restaurant owners. There will be a time when the starters outnumber the entrees. The minority will be the majority. The majority will no longer control the menu, and the likes of stuffed mushrooms will rule the day. Those days of cocktail wieners are long gone, and now you find things like burnt ends and roasted Brussel sprouts.

 This sounds ingenious because the items once put in the garbage or dog food bowl have been dressed up as a starter. I went out dining the other night and saw mac and cheese on the starter menu. Mac and cheese has grown up...no longer is it cheesy goo in a cardboard box. The starters are the entrees in some restaurants... so where do we go from here? Will the new starters be cocktail olives and celery sticks with pimento cheese? Will there be pre-starters? The future is wide open.