Bread at the table

Where does bread fit into a meal?

In short, bread has no part in a real meal. Controversial?
We continually read so called ‘critiques’ of restaurants wherein the reviewer castigates the chef/proprietor for not providing substantial free bread of such quality that some deity would feel comfortable returning to the flock just to sample the heavenly aroma.
Unless one is woofing a sandwich and needs to keep the middle bit actually in the middle, bread is a waste of stomach space. Space, which should and could be used for real food.
Bread is a filler, a carbohydrate packer, something to have if you have run out of dinner and need to ‘fill up’. My ex-wife’s mother-in-law used to trot out the bread, butter and jam after the meal so that all those hungry farmer types could fill every crevice to overflowing.
Bread is in part responsible for our current obesity problem. People are encouraged to quaff packers, such as bread, on a constant basis to fill-up and avoid that terrible threat to sanity – feeling peckish. May I suggest that feeling a ‘little’ hungry is a good thing! At the very least, it shows the body is working and consuming calories.
In my opinion as a restaurateur [obviously not shared by advertising companies], one should endeavour to ‘dine’ by consuming enough food and beverage to firstly remain relatively sober and secondly to be able to repair to the after event without the aid of a fork-lift.
Good food does not require bread unless it’s part of the dish.
Unfortunately, we are all weak when some ill informed restaurant puts good bread in front of us. We eat it.
At our little restaurant we make our own bread without preservatives and serve it with house-marinated olives and some variety of pesto. No fat. However, we do not give it away but list it as a side dish. There are no complaints, bread consumption has dropped dramatically and people are asking for more entrees. All proving that we don’t really need it.
Bread is just a filler when you can’t afford the real thing.
Savour the flavour of real food. Don’t suck the rest of the gravy with bread, ask for a teaspoon! Enjoy cheese on the merest cracker. Don’t inhale a chunk of bread with a little cheese flavour – that’s a waste the cheese. Don’t fall victim to societal norms, which dictate bread must be consumed with things such as pate de fois. We currently serve pate with sauté mushrooms and walnuts. No bread!
Finally, show some constraint when awaiting your entrée; don’t woof the table. Maybe request a little bowl of olives and perhaps savour a super dry sherry. Let the flavour of the olives and the sherry roll around your tongue and sparkle the taste buds for the first event.
Savour things in small quantities for their flavour, texture and endorphin releasing pizzazz. Enjoy the eating experience, don’t woof it.
[On the other hand, a ‘chip butty’ is really really yummy]