Never gave it a thought .... until now

Because they truly love me.

Probably just a carryover from a long line of grandmothers serving dinner. "Look at you boys, you're skin and bones! Eat this bread while I finish up this meal that'll give you coronary disease by the time you're in your forties".

I was going to start a thread on this topic.

How many here grew up with bread and butter on the lunch/dinner table? I was thinking about this simple pleasure the other day.

Depends what was being served, but usually at dinner. Around here it was usually a loaf of Italian bread. 

We'll do that when we're making regular pasta with real sauce, but these days we're more likely eating a lower calorie version, which gets no bread. 

My wife and I and one of our friends recently started joking about this while watching a movie, because every meal served on TV or in movie is accompanied by a basket of dinner rolls. My wife and I remarked how nobody does that, and our friend apparently does. 

I'm thinking bread makes more sense than mashed potatoes or tater tots.

In Europe restaurants typically charge for bread and other food items we are served for free in America. I can vision a day where that bowl of chips and salsa is no longer complementary. These are the good old days.

...or haggis...or kimchi...

My wife and I have been talking about baking our own bread.  We probably need a separate thread on the particulars (equipment and recipes).  My recent barrage of labs ruled out Celiac, so thankfully I'm good to go with the gluten. 

I think bread is often served just to quell hunger while people are waiting for their meal. There used to be a very popular place in NJ that was known for the delicious breads that were put on the table with the menus. Cheese, whole wheat, etc. Growing up bread was wonder white with butter. Did not discover the wonders of great bread until I was an adult. Now I have to contain myself or I would be even heavier than I am now.

I don't know, but it might be a tradition going back to the Great Depression of the 1930s, when food was somewhat scarce and people were hungry.

My wife is the youngest of 6 children. The 4 oldest were born in the '30s. They were told "eat whatever you are offered because you don't know when your next meal will be." They were the overweight ones. One of those 4 and the younger two are still alive.

From the LA Times:

This question was recently posed to Quora, and commenters posited lots of different theories. We’ll lay them out as simply as possible:

One, it’s a sign of hospitality. When you welcome people into your home or establishment to “break bread,” you’re showing them that they’re welcome.

Two, there’s a historical precedent. Tavern owners historically served one meal per day, at a set time and for a set price, so filling diners up on bread before the main course of meat, fish, or other more expensive foods helped keep expenses down.

Three, it’s a way to give diners something to do before their food arrives. When we sit down at a restaurant table we tend to be hungry, but it can take some time before the food arrives. Instead of letting customers sit around with nothing to eat, starving and watching other tables enjoy their food, giving them a little bread and butter to tide them over keeps them happy and prevents them from becoming impatient.

Four, it inspires subconscious reciprocity. If a generous and warm bread basket is placed on a table before the diner has a chance to order, he or she will subconsciously want to return the favor: “They were generous with their bread, so now I’ll be generous with them.” It puts customers in a generous frame of mind.

Five, bread actually makes you hungrier. Simple carbohydrates trigger insulin production, which makes you hungrier than you were before, and you most likely won’t feel any fullness from the bread until after you’re done ordering.

So there you have it: There are plenty of reasons for serving bread before a restaurant meal. Oh, and don’t assume that it’s free; the price of the bread is usually worked into the rest of the menu items

I like bread, but I LOVE good butter.

I see bread as a delivery system for butter. But I have to stay away from carbs these days, so my intake of both is greatly reduced.

I miss both. Even more than I miss beer.

Is Macaroni Grill the only place you have seen this? Around here, every good Italian restaurant (which Macaroni Grill is trying to simulate) does exactly this.