What Exactly Counts as a Hors d’Oeuvre? A Caterer’s Guide
Most people use the words appetizer and hors d’oeuvre as if they mean the same thing. They do not. A hors d’oeuvre is a small, bite-sized food meant to be eaten by hand, usually before a meal or sometimes instead of one. It comes from a French phrase that literally means outside the work, which is a fancy way of saying it sits outside the regular meal structure. This distinction matters most when you start planning 4th of July catering , since the wrong food style can throw off the whole event.