Anonymous wrote:We are an extraordinary obese nation.

Hence people complaining that any portion smaller than an entree from Cheesecake Factory is not filling.

Yes we are an obese nation, but unlike you, but I don’t think people who think cheese and puff pastries are a meal are helping

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They’re not filling because it’s not real food like you’d have for dinner. Cheese fruit and crackers are a poor meal.

Both the title of the thread and the original post specify plentiful apps and heavy hors d’oeuvres, so your point is moot. No one is saying “why can’t you consider it dinner when you have cheese and crackers in front of you.”

We are going to disagree on the meaning of plentiful and heavy right?


Is there enough appetizers so each person could have 3-5 ounces of protein? Because that’s the basic foundation of a meal for many people. The only time I’ve seen that, people had carving stations.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can definitely fill up on heavy apps. The people that say they need a meal—I don’t get it. It can truly be the same amount of food (even more calories sometimes if you’re having a lot of cheese/dough wrapped bites).

It’s fine!

This, it's the lack of protein and fiber, compared to a main and salad. A bunch of puff pastry might make me full (or greasy-sick) but not satisfied.

I don't serve that as a meal. If I want to serve them, I do a between meal party, like 2 to 5 pm.

There’s usually a vegetable tray, or at the very least lots of vegetables alongside crackers for the dips. I’ve never been to an app party that didn’t have lots of vegetables. Just because they are raw versus in a salad or roasted, like I don’t get it: there are vegetables. There are proteins.

Room temperature food doesn't feel like a meal.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are an extraordinary obese nation.

Hence people complaining that any portion smaller than an entree from Cheesecake Factory is not filling.

A chicken breast and green beans is both more filling and healthier than a bunch of mini quiche and Lil Smokies wrapped in dough.

How is it “more filling”? Explain. I agree it’s healthier, but when your stomach is full of vegetables, meats and carbs, it doesn’t matter whether those are in the form of turkey, green beans, mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce versus full of cocktail meatballs, crudite and gougeres.

Plus, who serves chicken breast and green beans without so much as a roll or a scoop of mashed potatoes at a holiday gathering?

That's not how carbs work. Carbs have a quicker digestion cycle and energy spike and crash.

You aren't forced to wrap every bite of a breast of chicken in bread, the way you are when it's served as puff / dimsum / finger food style.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:From the perspective of attending too, sometimes people don't recognize what they eat when scarfing appetizers standing up.

I have to remind myself to make a plate, filled with fresh vegetables and fruit.

Otherwise I can scarf a lot of individual pieces of cheese, appetizers, etc for more calories than a dinner.

I don’t ever “scarf” my food, whether it is charcuterie and crudite or a steak dinner, but you do you.

Why is cheese sandwich and tomato soup a meal, and pizza is a meal, but cheese and crackers and caprese not a meal?

Hunger is partly psychological.

If your don't remember eating a meal, you feel hungry.

All the people citing lack of protein are confused about what heavy hors d'oeuvres are. It's not cheese, fruit, and crackers.

My father never considered any type of snack a meal. That is how older people were.

Anonymous wrote:They’re not filling because it’s not real food like you’d have for dinner. Cheese fruit and crackers are a poor meal.

Both the title of the thread and the original post specify plentiful apps and heavy hors d’oeuvres, so your point is moot. No one is saying “why can’t you consider it dinner when you have cheese and crackers in front of you.”

Anonymous wrote:From the perspective of attending too, sometimes people don't recognize what they eat when scarfing appetizers standing up.

I have to remind myself to make a plate, filled with fresh vegetables and fruit.

Otherwise I can scarf a lot of individual pieces of cheese, appetizers, etc for more calories than a dinner.

I don’t ever “scarf” my food, whether it is charcuterie and crudite or a steak dinner, but you do you.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are an extraordinary obese nation.

Hence people complaining that any portion smaller than an entree from Cheesecake Factory is not filling.

A chicken breast and green beans is both more filling and healthier than a bunch of mini quiche and Lil Smokies wrapped in dough.

How is it “more filling”? Explain. I agree it’s healthier, but when your stomach is full of vegetables, meats and carbs, it doesn’t matter whether those are in the form of turkey, green beans, mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce versus full of cocktail meatballs, crudite and gougeres.

Plus, who serves chicken breast and green beans without so much as a roll or a scoop of mashed potatoes at a holiday gathering?

Lack of protein but if your heavy apps have meat it’s filling

Anonymous wrote:They’re not filling because it’s not real food like you’d have for dinner. Cheese fruit and crackers are a poor meal.

Those aren’t the heavy apps OP is asking about.

Anonymous wrote:It is. Well, it can be. Some people have a mental block and think if they eat bite-sized things on a plate they're holding with one hand while standing, they haven't had a meal. They need to sit at a table and use a fork and knife to feel they've had a meal.

I think this is it. The idea of "a meal," especially for a special occasion, is cultural. And it's a common idea in the US that a holiday or special event meal involves sitting down with a plate.

Also "heavy apps" depends on how they're served. Is there enough for everyone to fill up, or is the idea that they are an appetizer, you shouldn't spoil your appetite, so you get one mini Quiche and one little piece of toast with a topping? Don't get me wrong, I prefer appetizer or cheese plate meals to a big hunk of meat, but people aren't always planning portions that way.