Bread-and-butter plate

"Quarter plate" redirects here. For an optical element, see Quarter-wave plate.

File:Mısır ekmek.jpgA plate with Turkish corn bread and butter

Bread-and-butter plate (B&B plate) is a small, about 6 inches in diameter, plate that holds bread and butter for an individual table setting.[1] If a butter spreader is used, it is laid on top of the B&B plate, either vertically, horizontally, or diagonally.[2]

The modern B&B plate is simply a smaller plate and has other uses, thus other names: side plate,[3] quarter plate,[4] cheese plate.

## Contents

* 1 Use
* 2 See also
* 3 References
* 4 Sources

## Use

The availability of butter on the dining table varies with culture and setting and is closely related to the use of (otherwise dry) bread:[5]

* at the formal dinners in Europe, B&B plate is optional;
* a formal dinner in the private residence of North America is expected to provide all the taste and texture with the dishes (for example, the melba toast can be served with soup) and thus the B&B plate is not used;
* a restaurant will typically provide bread so that the guests can cleanse the palate (and have something to do if the service is slow);
* a formal luncheon has few courses and thus the B&B plate is present;
* bread and butter are always served in informal setting (on the edge of the dinner plate is B&B plates are not used).

In the Middle Ages, the trenchers were made of bread, but were not considered food, except by the poor, the bread intended for eating was served separately, on the left side (where the B&B plate is set up nowadays). A small dish, ​2 1⁄2 to ​3 1⁄2) inches in diameter, was used to hold a mound ("pat") of butter, and was called a butter pat. During the Victorian specialization "craze", two separate plates were used, one for bread and one for butter.[5]

A "Pix Conservo" bread-and-butter plate promoted in 1918 as a part of war saving efforts (single plate simplified the service and enabled restaurant to ration the bread)

The tendency of simplification after the First World War caused the plates to be combined into a single modern B&B one.[5] In 1918, a novel specialized bread plate with place for butter was marketed for restaurants as a way to enforce the wartime bead rationing and simplify service.[6]

## See also

* Bread fork, a Victorian era utensil for placing bread onto an individual bread plate
* Butter dish, a shared dish for butter

## References

1. ↑ Von Drachenfels 2000, pp. 93–94.
2. ↑ Von Drachenfels 2000, pp. 221–222.
3. ↑ Template:Cite Cambridge Dictionaries
4. ↑ Template:Cite Cambridge Dictionaries
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Von Drachenfels 2000, pp. 93–94, Bread-and-Butter Plate.
6. ↑ The new "Pix Conservo" plate 1918, p. 27.

## Sources

* "The new 'Pix Conservo' plate". New York Hotel Review: A Magazine for Hotels, Clubs, Caterers, Etc XIII (1). 1918. https://www.google.com/books/edition/New_York_Hotel_Review/rtDSqZPBypUC?hl=en&gbpv=1&pg=RA1-PA27. Retrieved 2025-07-20.
* Von Drachenfels, Susanne (2000). The Art of the Table: A Complete Guide to Table Setting, Table Manners, and Tableware. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-0-684-84732-0. https://books.google.com/books?id=d6xaJWJFe1QC&pg=PA184. Retrieved 2023-10-07.

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Butter

Types of butter|

* Bog butter
* Clarified butter
* Ghee
* Manteiga-da-terra
* Niter kibbeh
* Smen
* Vologda butter
* Whey butter
* Yak butter

Dishes featuring butter|

| Butter-based sauces|

* Beurre monté
* Beurre noir
* Beurre noisette
* Café de Paris sauce

|

Compound butter|

* Beurre blanc
* Beurre à la bourguignonne
* Beurre Maître d'Hôtel
* Truffle butter

Other|

* Butter tea
* Egg butter
* List of butter dishes

Butter paraphernalia|

* Butter churn
* Butter curler
* Butter knife
* French butter dish
* Scotch hands

Butter industry|

* Boterwet
* Butterfat
* Butter grading
* Chicago Butter and Egg Board
* Churning
* Butter manufacturers
* Anchor
* Land O'Lakes
* Lurpak
* Ornua/Kerrygold
* Plugrá
* Président

Butter in culture|

* Butter sculpture
* Butter lamb
* Butter lamp
* Butter rebellion
* Buttered cat paradox
* Buttered toast phenomenon
* Norwegian butter crisis

Miscellaneous|

* Butter mountain
* Artificial butter flavoring
* Butter salt
* Dairy salt
* List of spreads
* Butter churning in Nepal

Category: Butter

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