Appetizing store

Russ & Daughters, an appetizing store in New York's Lower East Side.

An appetizing store, typically in reference to Jewish cuisine, particularly Ashkenazi Jewish cuisine, is according to Russ & Daughters, is best understood as a store that sells "the foods one eats with bagels", although Milton Glaser and Jerome Snyder wrote that appetizings might be served with a variety of breads, including bialys, challah, corn rye bread, Jewish rye, onion rolls, Russian health bread, and seeded hard rolls.

The term is sometimes shortened to "appy". According to the New York Times, as of 2004 the term was not used outside of New York City.

Appetizing includes both dairy and "parve" (neither dairy nor meat) food items such as lox (smoked salmon), whitefish, cream cheese spreads, pickled vegetables, along with candies, nuts, and dried fruit. According to a 1968 New York Magazine article, the foods are typically served for Sunday brunch. The foods are typically eaten for breakfast or lunch. Jewish kashrut dietary laws specify that meat and dairy products cannot be eaten together or sold in the same places. The stores are different from delicatessens in that an appetizing store is a place that sells fish and dairy products but no meat, whereas a kosher delicatessen sells meats but no dairy.

The term is used typically among American Jews, especially those in the New York City area, where "appetizing shops" sell cooked fish and dairy products in some neighborhoods with large Jewish populations.

Notable establishments

• Barney Greengrass
• Murray's Sturgeon Shop
• Russ & Daughters
• Zabar's

See also

• Jewish cuisine
• Bagel and cream cheese
• Delicatessen
• Kosher
• Kosher restaurant
• Salumeria
• Cuisine of New York City