Someone on TikTok, a Ms. Cowgirl.Crystal, has posited the theory that restaurants serve that complimentary bowl of bread or chips when you sit down, not out of the goodness of their hearts, but as a sneaky ploy to make you hungrier while perusing the menu. She backed up her claim by broadly referencing the science behind indulging in carbs: a blood sugar spike that causes hunger. Then commenters waded in, saying, “Science, Schmience!,” along with anecdotal evidence of the free food either not affecting hunger levels at all, or filling them up so they order less. Thankfully, People Mag consulted a dietitian to get to the bottom of this (basket):
A viral video claiming that restaurants offer free bread and chips to stimulate cravings and prompt customers to order more off the menu has people divided.
TikToker Cowgirl.Crystal begins the clip asking, “Have you ever wondered why restaurants give you a bowl of bread or chips before your dinner?”
“It’s not because they want you to fill up on their free stuff,” she asserts. “When you sit down, they hand you the menu. They hand you a bowl of bread or some chips and salsa or something, and it’s not because they’re being generous. It is because you will spend more money.”
The video has been viewed more than 700,000 times since Crystal posted it on July 5.
“When you’re looking at that menu, you’re eating the bread or the chips,” she continues. “Biologically what happens when you eat that bread or those chips, your glucose spikes so you get really hungry. So you order the food, then they bring you more bread and more chips. And then they bring you the dessert menu.”
She concludes that diners’ best bet is to “fill up on fiber first.”
“Get some veggies, some zucchini, or some fried pickles are a better start,” she advises. “Even though they’ve got the breading, you’re getting some fiber.”
Many commenters on the video weren’t convinced that a complimentary bread basket leads them to order more.
“Maybe that’s their intent, but that doesn’t happen to me,” wrote one TikTok user. “The bread or chips never impacts my degree of hunger.”
“I must be opposite, I fill up and don’t order as much,” another commenter shared, while a third person wrote, “Nope! Bread makes me full.”
PEOPLE asked Stephanie Schiff, a registered dietitian at Northwell Health, to weigh in on the debate.
“It’s hard to say if eateries do this deliberately,” Schiff says. “But whether they do or not, certain things happen when you start a meal with bread or tortilla chips and sometimes eat almost mindlessly.”
She explains that bread and chips are examples of simple, or refined carbohydrates, which are quickly digested and broken down into simple sugar.
“That sugar is dumped into our bloodstream,” she says. “It causes a sharp, quick spike in your blood sugar.”
“You also get a surge of insulin, the hormone that helps control your blood sugar,” she continues. “Insulin can increase your hunger and you may find yourself increasing your food intake. Often, we keep reaching for carby or sugary food because it releases happy hormones such as serotonin and dopamine. And that makes us feel better — at least for the short term.”
Not to brag, but I’m in the camp of those fine people who can gorge on the basket of free carbs and still eat a full meal, thankyouverymuch. It takes training, for sure, but the stamina builds if you put in the hours (as I have). The dietitian did confirm Cowgirl.Crystal’s suggestion that filling up first on fiber and veggies is a healthier start to your meal, if that is your goal. Of course, no one on behalf of restaurants is copping to this allegation as their ulterior motivation. Personally, I think restaurants only do it because they feel they have to. Free anything is anathema to their business models. The next wave of TikTok videos I’m expecting will be on restaurants no longer offering the freebies anymore at all. It’s already happening, people! I went to dinner with my mother at an upscale Italian place recently; our pasta entrees each had luscious sauces that we wanted to mop up with some bread, but when we informed our waiter that we still hadn’t gotten a basket (that we saw at every other table), the response was, “Did you order one?” So we paid for it, because the white wine vongole sauce demanded it! But yeah, I say enjoy the free bread and chips while we can, cause their days are numbered.
@cowgirl.crystal 7-5 why do restaurants serve bread or chips first?
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As if they’re “appetizers”?
To those of you who travel: Here in Europe, restaurants may ask you if you want the bread, but be aware it is usually not free. You pay for what you eat and drink. If you’re used to getting this for free, you might not be aware of the cultural differences.
Yes, exactly! I recently travelled to London with a friend who doesn’t travel in Europe much. I went to the washroom and in my absence she agreed when offered a bread basket. I didn’t say anything because she clearly wanted it because her meal had a sauce and while I knew there would be a cost., I didn’t think it would be that substantial. It was 9 pounds. With the Canadian exchange rate that basket of bread was $16.50. Suffice it to say I was fairly pissed off. I knew London was very expensive to begin with, but I have to say the cost of food in London was exorbitant compared to other European cities. I’m wondering if that’s some of the fallout from Brexit. But that’s a whole other story…
London has been super duper expensive for a very long time. I remember paying £30 for a good dinner late 1980, back then around 70 CAD, and around the same time paying about £15 for a simple lasagna than wasn’t even good.
@ rrrabbit – yeah, the last time I went to London was in 2010 and I remember it being more expensive than Mainland Europe, then too. But this trip even in the post Covid area was ridiculously expensive. Same friend ordered a Prosecco based drink and it was $60 Canadian. Same drink is $30-$35 in a high-end Canadian restaurant. That was our one “nice dinner out” – and it was crazy. The so-called Continental breakfast at our hotel was $30 Canadian per person which is ridiculous. The ended up buying our own pastries and cereal and eating breakfast on our balcony save money.
London has always been way more expensive, I had sometime type of fried rice at a little Chinese restaurant for almost £30.
Yes, in Italy and Spain, I have always had to pay a charge for bread. Bread I didn’t ask for. At least in U.S. tap water is free. Expensive bottled water is another charge added in Europe. The only choice is gas or no gas, as they put it.
Because people who go to restaurants aren’t already hungry and planning to eat? I would think that the free stuff makes you less likely to order dessert. Most plates at restaurants have a certain amount of food anyway and that is what most people will order. If it is routine, it is built into the pricing in some way.
This! So many times I think that I will order some, but if there is bread or chips when I sit down, then I never do
Former restaurant owner/chef here. You have to give bread so people won’t get hangry (angry hungry) while waiting for their meal to come out.
I cut out carbs from my diet for this reason. They’re not filling and they just make me hungry. It’s very unhealthy.
Sounds more like restaurants give people chips or bread, so they are happy and occupied while waiting for the meal.
Yes, this sounds like a more plausible reason restaurants do it than any of the other theories about why. I also agree that it has a negative effect on ordering dessert. Most ppl don’t order desserts and I complain that by the time my actually food gets there, I’m full because are so much bread (looking at Olive Garden specifically )
Probably increases the use of take-out boxes also for the leftovers.
Yes, this is my thought too. In my college years I waited at about 10 different restaurants, and we never brought it out with menus. It was usually brought out after the order has been taken.
The thought of people eating food with their hands while handling a menu makes me queasy.
Eating the breads, the chips, the salsa — will also make many people thirsty, increasing the chance that they’ll order beverages (often with high markups) while they wait for their main courses.
Turnover is big reason. Fill up on bread, and by the time the meal arrives you are full and ready to leave. Places will have an expected 20- 25 min ticket time and STILL want a 45- 60 min turnover goal. So, yeah. Cost of bead is chump change when you can get 2 or 3 more turns per table over the course of a shift.
I just have a hard time saying no, and so I can eat the chips and then I eat the whole meal, and then I feel like GARBAGE for the rest of the night. So instead of not eating the chips, I just avoid going to mexican places because I don’t want to be so stuffed. Ugh I had some pasta last night with garlic bread and my husband didn’t want his piece (I can’t imagine) and I STILL feel just stuffed, and also regretful 🙁 because that was nothing but sugar and carbs and like no fiber which I have been trying to be better at having
I always thought it was because if you fill up on bread, you eat less of your meal and take home more as leftovers. Then you have lunch the next day, and the meal feels like a great value. That’s how it always works for me, anyway.
Or I’ve wondered if it isn’t that you’ll get to take more home, maybe instead they can serve you smaller dinner portions (saving them $$ on food cost while charging a full plate amount), so you eat the “whole thing” after bread, but it wasn’t as much food, and you don’t notice since you were half full to begin with. Who knows!
I guess it depends on your metabolism. I never eat the bread because I won’t have room for dinner. My husband is a bread fiend and he still cleans his plate. Sometimes I will eat chips and salsa though, the temptation is real for those.
I didn’t realize this was some big secret. I personally prefer an apéritif to stimulate appetite, but bread is fine too.