In two of the Italian chain restaurants I sometimes visit, they always give you seasoned olive oil in a small bowl to go along with your complementary bread. You are supposed to dip your bread in the olive oil. It’s delicious. One of the restaurants calls it “Italian butter.” And, I’ve also heard of people dipping bread in olive oil and vinegar – basically salad dressing. Since it’s something you see in American restaurants serving Italian food, people ask whether Italians actually dip bread in olive oil.
So, Do Italians Dip Bread in Olive Oil Or Not?
There is often an assumption that anything you see in an American restaurant must be something that Italians never do. So, do they? Of course! Why wouldn’t they? Italians will dip their bread in anything that looks like it might be tasty with bread, including a delicious sauce, just like any normal human being.
Now, it is more likely that folks in Italy would dip their bread in straight Extra Virgin olive oil, perhaps first cold pressed or Novello, rather than a mixture of olive oil and vinegar. However, it is not a universal practice in Italy and whether people do it will vary depending on the region.
More likely, you’d see bread drizzled with olive oil rather than served with olive oil on the side. In other words, bread with olive oil is definitely a “thing” in Italy so it’s not exactly a big stretch to dip bread in olive oil rather than drizzle bread with olive oil.
Regardless, to say that the practice is absolutely not Italian or that Italians would never do is erroneous. Calling seasoned olive oil in a bowl “Italian butter,” however, is something made up by American restaurants. And indeed, Italians are not known for spreading butter on bread, either.
Italians Use Bread to Mop Up Sauces Just Like Americans
Again, using bread to mop up sauces is something that any Italian might do. Why not? Using bread to soak up a sauce is probably a certanly a more widespread practice than dipping bread in olive oil, including in America.
Italian bread doesn’t have a lot of taste on its own. It’s meant to be eaten with a meal, usually one with plenty of salt to make up for the lack of salt in the bread. Eating bread and pasta in the same meal is also not something you’d see in Italy. It’s beyond me why people need to have twice the starch in a pasta meal, and Italians, it seems, agree. Bread would be eaten with fish or meat dishes.
Italian Restaurants for Tourists
There are many restaurants in Italy that cater to tourist and so create misconceptions about Italian eating habits. These restaurants may well offer a bowl or plate of olive oil for dipping bread and they may even give butter to American tourists, knowing how much we like to slather it on! Sometimes, visitors may not know that they are in a “touristy” restaurant and thus may be unaware that what they are experiencing is not typical Italian practice.
So, while dipping bread in olive oil is something that is done in Italy sometimes, by some folks in some regions, it is not a universal habit. However, it is something that Italian-Americans do habitually. These same Italian-Americans have picked up this habit fairly recently after generations of, guess what? — slathering their bread with butter.
