Breadsticks are a slender, slim loaf of baked bread served as a complimentary side dish at meals. The thickness and softness of breadsticks varies greatly from region to region, ranging anywhere from pencil thin and crispy to several inches thick and softhttp://dictionary.reference.com/browse/breadsticks.

Breadsticks are much more common in Italian cuisine than any other, and restaurants such as The Olive Garden serve salad and large, soft breadsticks with every meal. A more traditional Italian breadstick is called "grissini" which is thin and crunchy. Grissini comes in many different flavored varieties, including sesame seeds, garlic, onion, herbs, or just regularhttp://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-breadsticks.htm./ref>. In France they call breadsticks "baguettes", however they are just long loaves of bread with a hard exterior<ref>http://www.thenibble.com/reviews/main/breadstuffs/bread-glossary2.asp.

Breadsticks, or "grissini" originated in Turin, Italy in the 1600s. Before then, bread was scarcely made using proper hygiene, and rarely baked. As the story goes, in the late 1600s a young Duke became sick with food poisoning and his father suspected it was due to bread he had eaten. He remembered himself as a child getting sick just the same, and that his mother baked bread until it was hard and crispy and fed him nothing else to help remedy his illness. He tried his mothers old recipe to help his son, and shortly thereafter the young Duke recovered. After his recovery breadsticks became the preferred bread for royalty in all of Italy.

Since then many forms of breadsticks have come along, including biscotti in the early 1700s. Biscotti, which is Italian for "baked twice" is now a side dish served with coffee or espressohttp://www.bio-eko.it/ing/breadstick.html#top.

• Thin and crunchy breadsticks ~ Dip them in oil and/or vinegar, or serve them with pasta and eat them as a side dish.

• Thick and soft breadsticks ~ Dip them in garlic butter, or serve them with pasta and dip them in the pasta sauce

• Biscotti ~ Serve them with coffee or espresso and dip them in your drink for 1 to 2 seconds before eating.

• "Cheesy bread" breadsticks ~ Dip them in garlic butter or plain melted butter.