The hottest, hippest appetizer of the moment is edamame, a Japanese dish consisting merely of steamed soybeans, salted and served in the shell. Yep, thousands of well-dressed, sane, fully cognizant people ordering up baskets of soybeans. I couldn't tell you. The Burning Question crew spent several hours at sushi restaurants watching people suck on soybean pods, trying to figure out why they didn't just order a bowl of peas and dump salt on them. We secretly believe it has something to do with Tracy Lords and plan to spend next week on research.
People trying to describe edamame often settle for comparisons.
It's like bread. Gelato ranks as the most popular dessert. It's just a little creamier than American ice cream. Gelato uses only heavy cream and more egg yolks. Indeed, goat cheese and olives are the hot finger foods of the moment.