The Apéritif Return to The Table Style

Creating Healthy Eating Habits and Meaningful Moments

In this post, I’ll serve up the idea of the apéritif and show you how this custom can support healthy eating habits and help create meaningful moments at the table—anytime. Let’s start by exploring this delicious tradition.

What is the Apéritif?

Traditionally, an apéritif is a light drink—alcoholic or not—served before a meal. Its purpose is to help you relax, spark your appetite, and stimulate your digestive system.

In French and Italian culture, the apéritif is served with a little bite to eat and provides a time to talk before a special meal or when entertaining.

But you can use the apéritif before any meal to support healthy eating habits —this is what many of my students, like Audrey, call a game-changing tip:

 
Caterina has inspired me so much!!! While I was preparing dinner, my husband had declared he was starving. So, I quickly got my plate of olives and gave that to him to start. Surprisingly, he liked it. His whole demeanor changed, and he relaxed as well! I also served dinner in courses and we found we ate less than we normally do.

—Audrey

Rest and Digest

Relaxing before eating is a simple but essential habit for healthy digestion. When you’re in a relaxed state, your parasympathetic nervous system activates what is often called the “rest and digest” state. This is an optimal state for you to be in as you eat, allowing your body to focus its energy on digesting food properly.

This is in contrast to the sympathetic nervous system, known for activating the “fight or flight” state. When you’re in this mode, your body is primed for action, not digestion—it diverts energy to handle a perceived threat, which slows down or even halts digestion. Nutrients are more likely to be stored as fat rather than used for energy. This can defeat even a healthy meal.

And logically, doesn’t it just feel better to eat while relaxed? Adding a little apéritif moment to your dinners can be an enjoyable way to thrive in this relaxed state.

The apéritif doesn’t have to be a big production. A simple drink and a few bites before dinner—not too much to spoil your appetite—can help you relax, and it stimulates your digestive system. 

Your apéritif can be as simple as a glass of sparkling water, a few olives, cucumber slices, cherry tomatoes, or a couple of crackers with a spread or cheese while you’re getting dinner ready.

Just a few bites of whatever you have on hand, like some leftovers or melon with or without basil leaves, is a perfect little apéritif.

Offering an apéritif to household members and gathering everyone in the kitchen while you're preparing dinner gives everyone a chance to relax, and share a moment together. It’s also a little ritual that can help you eat better and eat less.

Eat Better

Instead of grabbing a late-afternoon snack when you’re hungry, try waiting and enjoying that “snack” as an apéritif before dinner. Snacking between lunch and dinner can disrupt digestion and the body’s natural cleansing process, known as the migrating motor complex (MMC).

One of our bodily functions that helps to maintain good gut health is the MMC. The MMC is a gastrointestinal pattern in which food moves from the mouth through the esophagus, stomach, and small and large intestines and then out of the body. This complex includes mechanical and chemical cleansing of the stomach in preparation for the next meal.

But this function only kicks in during periods of fasting. Snacking interrupts the optimal working of the MMC, meaning that residual undigested food may get left behind and begin to ferment. Over time, this can lead to an overgrowth of bacteria in the small intestine, which can lead to bloating, wind, and other IBS symptoms.

So skipping the snack in the afternoon makes time for the MCC function to do its work, and enjoying your snack as an apéritif before dinner can also help you eat less.

Eat Less

Having a few bites of something before dinner takes the edge off your hunger, and it not only gets your digestive enzymes flowing but can also help you eat less. When you’re hungry, it’s easy to dive into a meal and eat too quickly and too much. A little apéritif eases you into the meal, so you are more likely to eat slowly and avoid overeating.

A Meaningful Moment

The apéritif isn’t just a fancy custom for special occasions; it’s a simple ritual that supports healthy eating habits and creates a moment to connect, talk, and make meal prep more enjoyable—and it’s easy to do this daily. All you need is a few minutes, your drink of choice, and a little something to nibble on.

Your Apéritif

There are many more ways to use the apéritif to foster positive eating habits and create meaningful moments. In the next few posts, I’ll share more ideas about what you can serve for your apéritif and how to use it to

Appease kids clamoring for a snack before dinner

Entertain with ease

Make a quick family dinner

Avoid overeating at holiday gatherings

And how to use the aperitif to gather with friends—without much fuss

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As always, you can write to me if you have any questions about making your apéritifs.