On Sunday, June 26, 2016 at 2:17:11 PM UTC-10, cshenk wrote:
> dsi1 wrote in rec.food.cooking:
>
> > On Saturday, June 25, 2016 at 8:41:03 PM UTC-10, Julie Bove wrote:
>
> > >
> > > Apparently this oil dipping was a novel thing for the Cape. We did
> > > dine there again but were given butter instead of oil.
> >
> > The practice of dipping bread in a plate of olive oil and balsamic
> > vinegar will be a novel idea for some. We only started doing this
> > about 10 years ago. Asians don't have much of a history with olive
> > oil. I do love balsamic vinegar - it's great for coloring sauces and
> > gravies.
>
> It's very Italian to do it that way, along ith a grate of fresh black
> pepper and freshly grated romano or other hard cheese.
>
> Quite good! I like it 2 TB oil to 1 TB vinegar then 1 TB cheese and a
> few grates of black pepper.
>
>
>
>
> --

The practice is fairly common in Italian restaurants. I do not mind partaking - because typically, it'll be the only edible thing on the table and we got some time to kill while waiting for our food.

Old Asian dudes are unlikely to do this at home - we got too many things on our plates. The young locals will probably find it trendy.