Bread Trend
 

There seems to be two new trends with regard to bread. Restaurants are begining to charge for bread in the European tradition and you must request bread the way you ahd to request water during a draught.

Has anyone seen these trends as well?

Yes, and I've also noticed that you get oil unless you ask for butter.

Suspect it has not one thing to do with fashion but rather has everything to do with money. A lot cheaper to offer oil (which doesn't need refrigeration, either) and cheaper still to offer nothing.

I don't assign that fourth "Cassandra Star" rating unless the bread arrives warm and, unless it's an Italian/Mediterranean restaurant, it comes with butter.

I haven't noticed any trend towards charging for bread. And requesting water during times of drought or restrictions is reasonable. Have noticed a trend to push and charge for bottle water.

<Has anyone seen these trends as well?>

Not in the Philly area. ((*))

Haven't noticed it here, but in Paris we were charged for bread and then charged extra if we requested butter or anything to slather on it.

In the trendy restaurants, we get oil or some kind of tapinade or bean paste thing for the bread. All those are very nice but I like butter, thank you very much.

Other trends I don't like:
I want plain white sugar for my coffee, not brown sugar or those hunks of brown stuff that never actually dissolve.

and

I'm tired of having my food come to me in a tower which I then have to topple before I can get to the mashed potatoes which, by then, are soggy with meat juice and sauce stuff.

and

I think we're finally evolving out of The Era of Coulis squiggles on every dessert plate. It doesn't really change the flavour but I wish someone would come up with a pretty new gimmick.

I haven't noticed any restaurants in my area charging for bread. I prefer oil and dislike butter, so I am OK with oil when I get it.

hdm..
Had to laugh at your trends..
The stack of food drives me nuts and the only time I like a stack is when I do my ahi tuna with the avocado and mango..
The coulis squiggled on the plate is so yesterday and I want to add the annoying garnishes that are strewn about the entree's that you need a seperate plate just for that..
I don't mind being charged for bread as long as it's a nominal charge and butter should be free..but if you charge me for my chips and salsa at the Mex restaurants, that is wrong!

Agree wholeheartedly with a wish for the end of Food Towers surrounded by a Couli Squiggle!! Never made sense.

I gave several foodie friends the tiniest size of rubber spatula so they could scoop up the squiggles, which otherwise go to waste (and you've paid a fortune for the labor to reduce and squirt the stuff)!

<think we're finally evolving out of The Era of Coulis squiggles on every dessert plate. It doesn't really change the flavour but I wish someone would come up with a pretty new gimmick>

Heh, fine with me. On our first date, my husband and I shared a dessert at a fairly nice restaurant (the Brooklyn), and received a lovely flourless chocolate cake with KETCHUP squiggles on the plate.

Yes - there is a definite trend to offering something instead of - or along with butter. Often it is oil (and good quality extra virgin is a lot more expensive than butter) but sometimes it is a chick pea spread or similar - depending on the cuisine of the restaurant.

I think it's a nice touch - but then I don;t use butter on bread (since I prefer sweet and many places provide salted).

Olive oil with bread in place of butter started in the US.

"Olive oil with bread in place of butter started in the US"

You wouldn't happen to know where it started would you?

Olive oil with bread in place of butter started in the US"

You wouldn't happen to know where it started would you?

Sorry I do not. But I confirmed it a while ago with a friend who is food writer who specializes in Italian food. I had never seen it in Italy, so I started frineds who travelled to Italy whether they had as well, which all lead to this conclusion.

That is funny because I was in Italy last month with a friend who had never been there and she was surprised that they didn't give us olive oil with our bread and I had never noticed before whether they did or not.

Thanks for the answer. I appreciate it.

Rightly or wrongly, I thought the custom was Italian, but only done in the extreme south. I remember an Italian-American acquaintance being surprised the first time she encountered it in an upscale restaurant, as she had accounted it a peasant habit.
And speaking of strange squiggles, a local restaurant we're quite fond of is in the habit of liberally squiggling their cheese plate with chocolate sauce, which is quite odd with the vinaigrette dressed salad that is also on the plate. My twelve year old is the only one who feels the salad is improved by this! LOL

Good quality olive oil may be more expensive than butter but (a) few restaurants will go top of the line for oil that will sit on a table and may have to be tossed, (b) butter needs refrigeration, while oil doesn't if it's used up promptly, (c) it takes a certain amount of labor -- either the restaurants' or some dairy-suppliers' -- to prepare the butter for individual table-ready portions. Oil will almost always be cheaper, and IME what I taste in most oil-and-bread places is NOT that great to begin with -- sometimes they add pepper and maybe cheese to mask the mediocrity, but it's usually only in the very upscale places that you get the really good, nutty-winey stuff.

Are you talking about Sicily?

While I have often seen a bottle or crockery container of olive oil on the table in restaurants in southern Italy, including Sicily, I'm not so sure it was originally intended for the bread. It is quite customary to drizzle some olive oil onto many food items -- soup, meat, steamed vegetables, your salad.

I have never seen it for bread in Sicily and I asked friends who were born in Southern Italy and they do not recall it either.