When we visited Spain, I fell in love with the idea of tapas, appetizers or a meal served on small plates. The tapas we had varied by the tour we were on, but they usually consisted of cheese, meat, mini omelets, or nibbles like crisps and olives.

At a tiny outdoor restaurant in Cartagena, a server helped us order pork bites in tomato sauce, garlic shrimp and grilled cuttlefish served with sliced crusty bread. It was fun to sample all of the different flavors while basking in the sunny day.

I like the variety of tapas, combining an assortment of different flavors, textures and types of food. You don’t have to commit to a single entrée if you don’t know what you’re in the mood for. You get to try a little of this and that.

Oldways, a nonprofit organization focusing on food and nutrition, emphasizes healthy eating from cultures around the world, including the Mediterranean diet, African Heritage diet, Latin American diet and others.

Make Everyday Mediterranean: An Oldways 4-Week Menu Plan includes a meze platter. Based on Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cuisine, it combines a salad, dips, olives, vegetables, and pita bread. A contemporary Greek meze on its site includes beans, olives, hummus, cheese, radishes and stuffed red peppers (recipe from FOODMatch, a producer and importer of Mediterranean foods.)

On a busy night, it’s easy to assemble a quick meze plate or tapas and wedges of warm whole wheat pita bread for dinner with fruit for dessert. It’s also an attractive way to use up leftovers. When entertaining, invite guests to serve themselves from a meze platter or an assortment of tapas plates.

I like the element of creativity. When we returned home from our trip, we were lucky enough to find a local restaurant that offers a huge variety of small plates of seafood, vegetables and salads, meats and other selections.

One of our favorites was an arugula salad with burrata, topped with sliced peaches, drizzled with balsamic reduction and served with grilled bread slices. Another was grilled octopus, with a punch of lemon zest, olive oil, capers and arugula.

You’re only limited by your own imagination.