Hors d'oeuvre of striking colors. In Italian "antipasto" means it is served cold in the form of olive, cheese, pickled vegetables or "entrada" (Portuguese, Spanish) are served as hors d'oeuvres in Southern Europe. "Voorgerecht" in Dutch means the dish ("gerecht") before ("voor") the main course. Fattoush is a bread salad in Levantine cuisine made from toasted or fried pieces of pita bread ("khubz 'arabi") combined with mixed greens and other vegetables. It belongs to the family of dishes known as "fattat" (plural) or fatta, which use stale flatbread as a base. In the United States the custom appears to have come from
Hors d'oeuvre is the same for singular and plural usage; in English, the typographic ligature is usually replaced by the digraph , with the plural commonly written "hors d'oeuvres" and pronounced . "Appetizer" is a synonym for "hors d'oeuvre". "Starter" is sometimes used to denote an hors d'oeuvre, sometimes to denote more substantial courses, also known in Europe as entrées. A small number of food historians believe that the tradition may have begun in Russia, where small snacks of fish, caviar and meats were common after long travels. However, it may be that the custom originated in China, possibly coming through Steppes,