Menu

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For other uses, see Menu (disambiguation).
A business lunch menu, from Sergey Restaurant on Kammergansky Pereluk, Moscow
A business lunch menu, from Sergey Restaurant on Kammergansky Pereluk, Moscow

In a restaurant, a menu is a printed brochure or public display that shows the list of options for a diner to select. A menu may be a la carte or table d'hôte.

"Menu" can also be used in a more general sense, as synonymous with diet, the selection of foods available generally to a particular location or culture.

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[edit] History

An 1899 menu from Delmonico's restaurant in New York City. While the elaborate descriptions of menu prose had not yet reached their contemporary range, the menu still called some of its selections entremets, and contained barely-English descriptions such as "plombière of marrons".
An 1899 menu from Delmonico's restaurant in New York City. While the elaborate descriptions of menu prose had not yet reached their contemporary range, the menu still called some of its selections entremets, and contained barely-English descriptions such as "plombière of marrons".

The word menu, like much of the terminology of cuisine, is French in origin. It ultimately derives from Latin minutus, something made small; in French it came to be applied to a detailed list or résumé of any kind. The original menus that offered consumers choices were prepared on a small chalkboard, in French a carte; so foods chosen from a bill of fare are described as à la carte, "according to the board."

The original restaurants had no menus in the modern sense; these table d'hôte establishments served dishes that were chosen by the chef or the proprietors, and those who arrived ate what the house was serving that day, as in contemporary banquets. The contemporary menu first appeared in the second half of the eighteenth century. Here, instead of eating what was being served from a common table, restaurants allowed diners to choose from a list of unseen dishes, which were produced to order by the customer's selection. A table d'hôte establishment charged its customers a fixed price; the menu allowed customers to spend as much or as little money as they chose.[1]

[edit] Menu prose

As a form of advertising, the prose found on printed menus is famous for the degree of its puffery. They frequently emphasize the processes used to prepare foods, call attention to exotic ingredients, and add French or other foreign language expressions to make the dishes appear sophisticated and exotic. Part of the function of menu prose is to impress customers with the notion that the dishes served at the restaurant require such skill, equipment, and exotic ingredients that the diners could not prepare similar foods at home.[2]

[edit] Specific types of menus

In fast food restaurants such as this Rally's, the menu is typically a brightly lit public display rather than a printed card.
In fast food restaurants such as this Rally's, the menu is typically a brightly lit public display rather than a printed card.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Rebecca L. Spang, The Invention of the Restaurant: Paris and Modern Gastronomic Culture (Harvard, 2000: ISBN 0674006852)
  2. ^ Sara Dickerman, "Eat Your Words: A Guide to Menu English" (slate.com, byline April 29, 2003, accessed Nov. 27, 2007)

[edit] External links