A useful size to package and sell ingredients in, such that the person following a recipe can halve or double the recipe as needed and still use the entire package with no waste.
Would it help if I told you that it was defined as the volume contained in a cube whose length is the distance light travels in a vacuum in 1/166219513th of a second? I imagine it wouldn't. Obviously the litre is superior, it's a much less arbitrary cube defined by the distance light travels in a vacuum in 1/2997924580 seconds.