Taste a delicate starter of pté beforehand (8)
I believe the answer is:
appetite
'taste' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'a delicate starter of pte beforehand' is the wordplay.
'delicate' becomes 'petite' (petite can mean small and delicate).
'starter of' suggests taking the first letters.
'beforehand' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
The initial letter of 'pte' is 'p'.
'petite' after 'p' is 'ppetite'.
'a'+'ppetite'='APPETITE'
(Other definitions for appetite that I've seen before include "Justification for dining" , "A feeling of craving something" , "Natural craving" , "thirst" , "Desire, inclination" .)