BreadEater

How come no one ever serves butter or olive oil with bread? Been to lots of great restaurants, both Italy and France, and never got either. Even asked for it once, and it never arrived. <BR> <BR>In the U.S., you almost always get butter. In the higher-end, trendier places, you get Olive Oil and sometimes balsamic. So it would appear they are not being authentic ... but thank God they do serve it, since butter, oil, or balsamic really do go well with the bread! Especially the harder, drier, Italian types. <BR> <BR>One of life's mysteries, I guess! <BR>

bread eater

It's a peculiar American custom to serve butter with bread. In my family (in the USA) we always had bread with the meal, but without any butter or oil. In Tuscany, some restaurants served olive oil with bread at lunch time. In poorer parts of Italy, bread and oil, sometimes softened with a little water, WAS the whole meal at home.

Ann

If you go to Brittany, you will get butter with your bread.

PB

Here in Provence they sometimes offer olive oil with bread. But the general feeling is that the bread is so good, why muck it up by putting something on it. <BR> <BR>PB

Kate

Here in Britain you mostly get butter with your bread too. Indeed in some places you could even describe it as getting bread to go with your butter. A lot of trendy places now also serve oil and balsamic vinegar. <BR> <BR>Kate

D.J.

I love bread too, and was surprised to be served with no butter.In Ireland I noticed that they dont serve the large portions that they do here in the states.I would drop 20 pounds spending the winter there.I had gone to an expensive staekhouse one night and got a steak dinner served with no water, bread, salad, steak sause, and they charged me extra for a baked potatoe in lieu of mixed vegatables.-and then they didnt even bring me that!The steak was very good and did not need sauce, but I guess with what I am used to I just didnt feel satisfied that I had a good dinner.It sure wasnt any cheaper that what I pay for here at home.I usually eat a light lunch and save my appetite for a filling evening meal.This was served in a self-described Texas style restaurant.Would I starve to death in Europe? I have heard of people eating their way thru the place, I just wonder what do they eat?

elaine

Butter is considered more of a breakfast item, and/or something to spread on along with jam. Possibly related to coffee with milk being also considered a breakfast item, unless the restaurant is used to accommodating American tourists at dinner. <BR>DJ, it's been my experience that when I order a main course in Europe, that's what I get, and if I want a side vegetable or salad of any sort it's a la carte, on a separate list in the menu. <BR>I quite contentedly "eat my way through Europe". Portions are smaller, but there are more courses in each meal, and <BR>most meals are savored in a leisurely manner, not the rushing through that we Americans often practice. <BR>I'm sure if you'd asked for bread or water or a salad you'd have gotten it. Water is not usually brought to the table unless asked for, in my experience. <BR>As for the meal not being any cheaper, it's impossible to compare prices without doing an analysis of the local economy, large city vs small town, <BR>tourist-oriented place vs neighborhood bistro, and many other factors.

not Irish eater

DJ, for a trip with eating pleasures, I have a feeling Ireland is NOT the place to go. I'm sure Ireland has plenty of other charms, but I don't think that's where people are talking about eating their way through the trip.

D.J.

Elaine, you have valid points there.I didnt want to be a picky american so I never did speak up and ask for what I wanted when dining out.Mabye I am a picky american and have just discovered it.The beef was always excellent, but then they would trash it by putting white goop on it or horseradish mustard.The pub grub was tiresome, the same menu everywhere you go.How many times can you eat fries?Soup was good, an Irish stew mabye.I figure if they dont make the simple foods to my taste I was really too afraid to try the more adventuresome dishes.One night I just had drinks at the pub because I needed something different in my stomach,so we went to the only other place in town, a pizza joint.It wasnt too bad, but again thier x-large was our small at home and cant compare to our pizza.If the Irish came to U.S., I suppose they would think this was a food wonderland.I never did see a fat girl there the whole time though.We did picnics a couple of times.Picked up some top grade smoked salmon in Lisdoonvarna, now I could kick myself for not getting a bunch more, I never did see it again no matter how hard I looked.I love butter, but it was not salted, and looked like margarine, I was skeptical.

PB

&lt;&lt; I love butter, but it was not salted, and looked like margarine, I was skeptical.&gt;&gt; <BR> <BR>That's what I love best about the butter here - no salt. Although you can buy salted butter everywhere if you want it. No coloring added either. The stuff in the States is so yellow it looks peculiar to me.... why do you want to eat all that dye ?

Tracy

The only time you'll get butter with your bread (in France) is if you're eating fruits de mer - and then it'll be rye bread you have with your raw plate, not baguettes or ficelles. <BR> <BR>Bread's so cheap and good, why ruin the texture with cold hard butter? Both bread and croissants are ripped at the table - not cut (once watched someone totally smoosh a croissant, trying to cut it lengthways into a croissanwich!) . . . and it's OK to use bits of bread to sop up tasty sauces. <BR> <BR>Also, in France, the correct place for your bread is on the table, just to the top right of your plate - if you don't have a side plate! <BR>HTH!

D.J.

I think you got that mixed up.Actually, Land O'Lakes is a pale yellow.The Irish butter was the yellow that looked like margarine.I dont think there is dye in either one but may be the way it is made.

Christina

I don't usually eat butter with bread as I don't like to eat fat that much, but I am served butter with bread in France quite a bit, much to my surprise, and I've never asked for it. So, we obviously frequent different places but a lot of restaurants in Paris give you butter with bread, I think they do it because some tourists want it. I also don't understand the yellow comments? Normal US real butter is very pale, only margarine is dyed and brighter yellow where I am, so I agree with DJ. Butter in France looks the same to me, pale yellow. I really don't like olive oil on bread, some Italian restaurants serve that and it makes me kind of sick to even look at people eating that (I don't eat big meals much and don't eat fat that much so these things gross me out).

KT

I don't understand the comments about European butter being unsalted, unlike American butter. It is true that you usually get salted butter with bread in restaurants in the US, but unsalted butter isn't exactly rare. I, and my parents before me, prefer unsalted butter and have always been able to find it easily in grocery stores here in the US.

elvira

The only time in Paris I've seen butter served after breakfast is in restaurants that cater to tourists. At the same time, I've seen "old" bread served (as in, lunchtime bread served at dinner) - they figure the tourists won't notice when it's slathered with butter. I'm not saying every restaurant in tourist areas does this, but I've seen a few that do. <BR> <BR>The unbuttered bread is used for a variety of things: plain and eaten with a glass of wine before dinner is served; as a conduit for getting pate or cheese to your mouth (they don't usually serve crackers with these foods); to sop up the sauce or gravy from your meal; broken up in little pieces into your soup. <BR> <BR>As for the salted/unsalted hoo-hah: UNsalted butter is usually fresher because it is lacking the preservative factor that salt gives; its expiration date is a lot earlier. No cook/chef worth her/his salt (ar ar ar) will use salted butter in recipes because s/he wants to control the amount of salt used in her/his recipe. As for the color, I suspect a lot has to do with what the cow eats. If the cream used is too pale, then annatto or carotene (or whatever the stuff is that makes carrots orange) is added to give the butter 'eye appeal'.