Hors d'Oeuvre from France

In the English-speaking world we have appetizers, inherited for the most part from French cuisine, where hors d’oeuvre are small savory foods served before the meal. Traditionally, hors d’oeuvre were served only at luncheons, were always served cold, and only with meals that didn’t include soup. Larousse Gastronomique instructs that hors d’oeuvre must be presented elegantly. An appetizer should never fill one up. Michel Bouzy claimed in his Les poissons, coquillages et crustacés, published in 1929, that the hors d’oeuvre is gastronomically correct only at luncheons, never at dinner, except in the case of oysters or caviar.