Tasty Finger Foods From Around the World

The ultimate antipasto, this time-honoured Italian appetizer is a triumph of fresh ingredients and no-fuss preparation. In traditional bruschetta, grilled bread slices are topped with a drizzle of olive oil, sprinkled with salt and topped with chopped fresh tomatoes and basil, but a variety of different toppings can be used to mix things up.

Much like the popularity of Buffalo wings in North America, Spanish taverns are renowned for these crispy fried potatoes, not unlike a steak-cut French fry but bursting with regional flavours, spiced with paprika, salt and garlic. A popular item in tapas bars, in Spain patatas bravas are typically topped with mayonnaise and a thick, zesty tomato sauce.

Danes love this open-faced finger sandwich that combines cream cheese, dill, thin slices of smoked salmon (or trout) and cucumber atop a slice of rye bread.

During 1960s through to the 1990s, shrimp cocktail was the most popular hors d’oeuvre in the U.K. (where it’s known as prawn cocktail), although the roots of this classic finger food lay in the U.S., with cities ranging from Boston to San Franciso claiming to devising the idea of serving chilled shrimp with a spicy, ketchup-based dipping sauce.

This traditional Greek appetizer is made by steaming grape leaves in water and lemon juice, then wrapping the softened leaves around a stuffing made from tabouli or rice, ground lamb, garlic, onions and herbs (typically parsley or dill).

This time-honoured French finger food is made from a hollow circle-shaped piece of flaky puff pastry filled with a savoury, saucy filling of vegetables, meat or fish. Vol-au-vents are typically served as hors d’oeuvres, not just in France but all over the world.

These traditional triangle-shaped stuffed pastries come in sweet and savoury varieties, ranging from spiced meat to cheese to more unusual fillings like pumpkin. Popular in Afghanistan, they first become popular in Morocco and Middle Eastern nations.

A round, cheesy bread made from yucca flour (derived from tapioca starch and cassava), pan de yuca is a traditional Ecuadorian favourite. Variations can be found throughout Latin America, with similar cheese-based breads bearing different names, such as chipas (Paraguay and Argentina), pan de queso (Columbia), cuñape (Bolivia) and pao de queijo (Brazil).

One of the most popular snacks in Brazil, coxinha is essentially a chicken fritter not unlike an empanada, with shredded chicken meat wrapped in dough, which is then deep-fried. Coxinhas are shaped to resemble chicken drumsticks, which, legend has it, were created when a royal chef ran out of fresh chicken legs — the only food the picky young prince would eat — and instead wrapped leftover chicken in dough, shaping it like a chicken drumstick and telling the prince it was a special type of chicken.