Italian Food Rule – Don’t Dip Bread in Olive Oil
July 16th, 2012 | Posted by Ann
It was at least twenty years ago when I first broke the Italian Food Rule: Don’t Dip Bread in Olive Oil.
Or, to clarify: Don’t serve bread with a bowl of olive oil with a swirl of balsamic vinegar as an appetizer (or any other part of the meal).
Back to my first experience: I was so enchanted by the new food presentation, I never forgot the moment.
Farallon Restaurant in San Francisco - where I first broke the Rule
It was my first dinner at Farallon, that fantasmagorical Paul Kuleto restaurant in San Francisco. Sitting under the jellyfish chandelier, I watched with curiosity as our waiter presented with a flourish a thin sliced baguette of warm sourdough bread and a bowl of deep green extra virgin olive oil. But he didn’t stop there. With some sleight of hand he produced a small bottle of balsamic vinegar and created a floating purplish S on the surface of the oil.
It is a true talent to be able to swirl
Noting our bemused expressions, he explained that the proper procedure was to dip a bite of torn bread into the oil, catching a smidgen of the aceto balsamico (I can’t remember if he actually said “aceto balsamico”) and pop it into one’s mouth. I caught on immediately and for the next ten years or so I savored bread dipped in olive oil throughout the fine restaurants of San Francisco and across the United States.
I always thought the idea was conceived at Farallon, but others claimed the genesis was at some Little Italy restaurant in San Francisco, and still others thought that Il Fornaio was the first. Certainly San Francisco was the first city to break the Italian Food Rule: Don’t Dip Bread in Olive Oil. (If anyone has evidence of the practice pre-1990 in another location, let me know.)
In 1998, I arrived in Italy and it was immediately apparent that there was absolutely no practice of setting bowls of olive oil on the table so customers could munch on bread before the antipasti arrived. In fact, then and now, there may not be bread on the table until the main course is served, but that is a story for another day (Italian Food Rule: Don’t Eat Bread with Pasta).
However, by the turn of the millennium, most Americans, including those from places like Iowa and Vermont, were hooked on olive oil and bread. They arrived in droves on Italian shores expecting to be served olive oil, bread and even that squiggle of balsamic vinegar in the trattorias and fine restaurants across Italy.
Extra virgin olive oil & balsamic vinegar - (photo credit summertomato.com)
In the beginning, Italian waiters (and restaurant owners) were simply confused – why all of this demand for olive oil when there was no food on which to put it? – but then they swiftly moved from being perplexed to being appalled.
Why appalled, you ask? Certainly Americans (and other tourists) have broken Italian Food Rules before, especially the ones regarding cappuccino, pizza, and ice cubes. But those infractions paled in comparison with what happened when Americans, olive oil, and bread were combined. It was a catastrophe: A tourist asks for bread. The waiter complies, sneering a bit because he knows that eating bread before a meal ruins the appetite and leads to fat. Then the tourist throws the waiter an impatient look and asks for the olive oil.
What do you see? A laughing baby? A beach babe? Old olive oil?
Now the waiter quits sneering and either says that there is no olive oil for the dining room (salads are dressed in the kitchen, pasta and veggies get their last splash from the chef; same with the main courses) or he brings a large bottle of olive oil – from the kitchen or the waiters’ service stand – to the table.
You say you still don’t understand the problem? Imagine the table in our hypothetical trattoria. Now there is a basket of bread and a bottle of olive oil in the center by the small candle or tiny floral centerpiece. There are four paper placemats, each topped with a knife and fork and a napkin. What do the Americans do? They have stretched to ask for pane and olio, using the right words. They have no further language resources or patience for piattino, ciotolina (or piccola ciotola), or any other tableware word, and frankly they are a bit miffed that the olive oil didn’t come served in a bowl.
So they take a slice of bread, place it on their paper placemat, and gingerly aim the spout of the large olive oil bottle at the center of the slice, trying desperately not to run over the crusty edges. Of course, olive oil, poured by even the most careful person, soaks through the light Italian bread, onto the placemat or napkin underneath.
The tourist is upset and embarrassed and the waiter is appalled and apoplectic. Now, add a hypothetical cotton tablecloth under our hypothetical paper placemats and you can see how the problem escalates. I do not exaggerate here for effect – I have seen both situations with my own eyes.
Olive oil, balsamic vinegar and rosemary twigs - too much stuff
There are a few good reasons for the Italian Food Rule: Don’t Dip Bread in Olive Oil. Fine Italian extra virgin olive oil – the only type to eat with bread – is expensive. To place a bowl of olive oil on the table in front of Italians guarantees the waste of excess oil because Italians don’t eat bread before they start their meal. (Some might argue that Americans will wipe the bowl clean, but remember Italian Food Rules were not created with Americans in mind.) Italians aren’t given to eating out of a communal bowl (dipping a hunk of bread in olive oil, taking a bite and then dipping it back in the same oil would cause Italian to go pale with visions of bacteria, viruses, etc.). There is the possibility of drips – Italians avoid potential messes. This list probably just skims the surface of reasons behind the Rule.
A waste of two expensive ingredients
As for that S of aceto balsamico floating on the oil… There is probably an extra penalty for adding that to the crime. Italians do not put balsamic vinegar on bread. Italians do not make a salad dressing with balsamic vinegar and olive oil (red wine vinegar only). Traditional aceto balsamico is wildly expensive, exquisitely good and should never be wasted or drowned in olive oil.
But if oil and bread together is so good, why don’t the Italians give in? Well, Italians do eat bread with extra virgin olive oil on top. The dish is called fettunta from fetta (slice) and unta (oily) – an “oily slice”. The bread is not dipped in oil. A slice of bread is toasted (preferably over a flame), rubbed while still warm with a halved clove of fresh garlic, and placed on a plate. Fresh extra virgin olive oil is poured over the slice of bread and salt is added to taste. It is difficult to find this dish in a restaurant because it is considered simple home food, not worthy of a dining experience and difficult to price since it is basically a slice of bread with a splash of olive oil.
Fettunta - No dipping needed. No violation of the Italian Food Rule.
When in Italy, save the dipping of bread in olive oil for a formal tasting of the year’s new oil in December and January when the purpose is not to eat a lot of bread, but just to taste a variety of fabulous just pressed extra virgin olive oils. Keep the practice out of your restaurant experience while touring Italy and perhaps, give it up at home to avoid violating the Italian Food Rule: Don’t Dip Bread in Olive Oil.
Tags: Balsamic Vinegar, bread, food, Italian Food Rules, Italy, olive oil
July 18th, 2012 at 4:23 am
I completely agree. The good olive oil (and balsamic vinegar) are too expensive to waste! So the answer is the fettunta! As you wrote! Thank you Ann! Paolo
July 20th, 2012 at 9:52 am
Paolo, Thank you for your comment. You are a buongustaio of the highest order! Ann
July 20th, 2012 at 10:40 am
Many years ago we were taking a cooking class in Montacatini. When the instructor and chef of the hotel heard that one of our fellow students asked for some olive oil to dip the bread in, the chef came out and angrily said, “not here, that’s never done in Italy”. There was a heated argument with the chef and the American whose heritage was Italian, said that was always done in his home. The chef refused to bring some olive oil.
July 20th, 2012 at 12:27 pm
Thanks Elaine. Like spaghetti and meatballs, having an Italian heritage doesn’t mean you are following the Italian Food Rules. The new world brings new ideas -some better, some worse.
July 20th, 2012 at 2:48 pm
[...] not an authentic Italian dish. Like tiny bowls of olive oil set out for for dunking bread (another Food Rule for another day) spaghetti served with “red sauce” and topped with meatballs is an [...]
July 21st, 2012 at 1:34 pm
[...] At lunch or dinner, Italians wouldn’t think of slathering butter on the bread from the basket on the table. (They don’t dunk it in oil either, but that is the subject of a separate Food Rule.) [...]
July 24th, 2012 at 9:56 am
My first trip to Italy was in 1999. We saw some people dipping bread mid-afternoon and having wine. I’ve never seen it since. But those people could have been Americans!
At a cooking class last fall on lake como, the chef mentioned this American habit and stated that the oil will coat the pallette and ruin your taste buds for the meal. I can see that as an explanation too but I tend to agree with yours more. Fine oil and balsamic are expensive and not to be sopped up.
September 7th, 2012 at 4:50 pm
Hi, I’m Italian, born and raised in Milan, Lombardy. Although I’m from the north, and I believe you are mostly talking about southern recipes and tradition, there are a couple points in your article I have to disagree with.
First of all, I’ve never heard of this rule. I’ve been dipping bread in extra virgin olive oil since I was a kid, the only reason I don’t do it anymore is because that would make me extra-fat! Sometimes I even used to add some aceto balsamico to it, but really that was just my thing – nobody told me, I came up with the idea all by myself.
Also, I have been seasoning my salad with extra virgin olive oil and aceto balsamico my entire life. It’s very common! It’s not like it costs 10 bucks a drop! It’s normal! Besides, I don’t even like red wine vinegar.
One more thing, you call it “fettunta”, but the common name is “bruschetta”. In most places here, if you say fettunta nobody will understand, while “bruschetta” will be understood the same way here and all the way down to Sicily.
Hope that helps!
Davide
December 26th, 2012 at 1:20 pm
Rules rules Rules. Hogwash!!!! It tastes great and I will dip as I please. Give me a break. Enjoy life and eat what tastes good people.
January 8th, 2013 at 8:31 pm
” Italians aren’t given to eating out of a communal bowl (dipping a hunk of bread in olive oil, taking a bite and then dipping it back in the same oil would cause Italian to go pale with visions of bacteria, viruses, etc.) ”
I think you are romanticizing a bit about Italy and Italians. Believe me, nobody in the world is more afraid of “bacteria, viruses etc.” than Americans. Italians also do eat out of shared plates/bowls.
Davide also brings up good points.
March 1st, 2013 at 6:56 am
My wife is from southern Italy, so we visit often. Her family has Italian friends that almost consider it a delicacy to eat fine bread with quality olive oil (no vinegar, however). So parts of this do happen in Italy.
I think it’s important to note that many Italian eating ‘rules’ are common sense-based. No bread before pasta is just intelligent, as they are both carbohydrates and you will be getting vastly more calories adding bread to the already calorific pasta. However, eating bread in the evening is more common in Italy, as pasta is less often served for the evening meal (which is generally much smaller than the mid-day one).
One rule you haven’t mentioned is ‘no cheese with fish’. Try requesting parmesan for your sea-food pasta and watch the revulsion on your waiter’s face as they say ‘but it’s fish!’
March 1st, 2013 at 7:49 am
Thanks for your comment, Edwin. See http://tuscantraveler.com/2012/italy/italian-food-rules-no-cheese-fish-pasta-parmesan/ or search the site for “cheese” because you are right “No cheese with Fish” is an Italian Food Rule.
March 24th, 2013 at 10:59 am
The not eating bread with pasta rule is a lie! maybe it’s a northern thing but in the south, dipping the bread in the sauce is almost a religion! puccia puccia!
March 25th, 2013 at 5:09 pm
We, Americans of Italian descent, add Parmesan cheese to many foods. My mother, from just outside of Lucca, Tuscany, always sprinkled it on the daily soup she made for us…cheese and even freshly ground pepper (as we got older).
While in Lucca recently, my husband and I took our extended family to a local restaurant to thank them for hosting us with various activities and meals at their home. Farro was ordered by my cousin and myself. I told her that we sprinkle Parmesan cheese on it. She thought it was weird. She tried it, since we had done this, and didn’t care for it.
I cannot imagine having any type of soup without sprinkling Parmesan on it… but then again, I am 60 years old and that’s the way I have had soup (minestra) all these years.
April 2nd, 2013 at 12:21 am
Sorry to come so late to the party, but happy that somebody besides myself calls out this nonsensical conceit among American restaurants – not only do they NOT do this in Italy (for the very reasons you describe) but also in Croatia, just across the Adriatic. The Istrian/Italians would also be appalled.
mille grazie!
mavenandmeddler.com
April 2nd, 2013 at 12:45 pm
As you say a bit of bread is used to scoop up the leftover sauce, not eaten with the pasta noodles themselves.
May 5th, 2013 at 10:38 am
I do not understand why Italians are so stuck up to their rules.This goes also for the French.
It is absolutely baffling to me and I believe it has something to do with some kind of ignorant pride and narrow/closed mindedness of the Italians (I know this by experience because I have lived in Italy before).
I am a Lebanese/Arab that has lived and worked in 4 different continents, and can say without a shadow of a doubt that the Arabic cuisine, including the Persian and Indian is far more superior than the Italian in terms of flavor, ingredients and variety. We Middle-eastern people truly believe that Italian cuisine (and the rest of the European cuisine) is poor…they are simply a poor people in terms of eating (they consider everything expensive, have no knowledge on or even access to complex herbs and spices). The only thing that makes Italian food good is the quality of their ingredients like veggies, fruit and bread due to their amazing highly volcanic mineralized soils.
Anyways my point is….if you would go to the best restaurants in the Arab world (Middle-east) from Morocco to Dubai and you wanted something crazy or disgusting like baked potatos floating in a bowl of olive oil no one would complain…they would just bring it to you. We are a people who are famed for hospitality and service! In arab countries we never shun or look at people because they asked from something weird….the costumer gets what he wants end of story! This is why I am very baffled by this way of thinking in Italy and some other European countries.
I am not here to make some kind of promotion….but I guaranty you that if you visit the middle-east your taste buds will have multiple orgasms from the food that is available here and you will be served like the costumer you deserve to be!