The Menu

Freda will happily tailor make a menu for any function, corporate event, or special occassion, turning your predicaments into her delight.

The History of the Menu

The earliest known menu was discovered by archaeologist Sir William Cristal in 1922 when he was excavating the pyramid that contained the tomb of a then unidentified Egyptian prince. Carved in hieroglyphics on stone tablets, the menu was for the meal that was presented to celebrate the birth of the Prince’s twin sons.  According to the menu, there were two first courses – garlic in sour cream and barley soup, and one intermediate course – salmon that had been brought by boat from the Tigris River. The main course consisted of roast pig and goats’ cheese and this was followed by honey cakes, fresh dates and pomegranates.  All in all, a rather modest meal considering that one of these twins was to later become Ramses 111, probably the most powerful and famous of all Egyptian Pharaohs.

The menu that was discovered was not one that had been given to the guests at the dinner.  Like nearly all menus until the 19 th century, this was meant as a working list, instructions to the kitchen staff about what dishes to prepare and in what order they were to be served at a given meal.  Such menus, or lists of instructions were commonly used in royal households well into the 15 th century, and a Florentine humanist and philosopher, Bartolomeo Sacchi, wrote a classic treatise showing how menus should be constructed.  Sacchi suggested that meals be introduced with light, delicate dishes such as salads, raw vegetables dressed with olive oil and vinegar, cooked vegetables, fruits, eggs and, in keeping with the tastes of his time, a course of sweet candies or cakes.  Sacchi wrote that “these should be followed with soups, the purpose of which are to ready the palate for boiled and roast meats”, and that the meal should close with cheeses and more sweets.

By the end of the Renaissance, such menus had become fuller, and it was not uncommon to find diners served in as many as twelve separate courses, each consisting of several dishes.  The oddest part of all this was that diners were given no choice in what they were served.  Every diner was expected to sample at least a little bit of every dish put on the table.

Until the middle of the eighteenth century, most public eating-places were inns, places where overnight guests or others who dropped in could have a meal.  No matter how plain or fancy these places were, the contents of the meals to be served were determined by the proprietor or the kitchen staff, and were hung over the working stations in the kitchen and were solely for the purpose of the cooks.  In most such inns, not even the waiters knew what the dinner would consist of until they were given the various dishes to bring to the table.  It is true, however, that by the middle of the seventeenth century, it was the responsibility of one of the waiter s to memorize this list and announce loudly to all of the assembled guests just what was waiting for them.  Not even the famed Tour d’Argent, which was established in 1582 gave its guests any options in what they ate until the restaurant was nearly two hundred years old.

The first true “bills of fare” as we now know them originated in France towards the end of the 18 th century, when owners of inns and the first true restaurants decided that diners would have the right to choose the dishes that most pleased them.  Called “escriteau”, chefs at prestigious restaurants adopted the habit of placing large posters near the entrance of their restaurants, and on these were written the names, and sometimes descriptions, of the dishes provided by the establishment.  English visitors to France liked the idea so much that before long, every pub in London had a chalkboard upon which the pub owner would list his daily offerings.  The French in turn, liked this English adaptation and most Parisian restaurants began to use chalkboards for the same purpose.

The tradition of giving guests individual menus only started in eh 19 th century, when it became popular for kings, princes and other members of royal families to dine in fancy restaurants.  By 1850 it was considered essential that important guests be given their own menus.

Although bistros and many brasseries continue their habit of writing the menu, by then known as “carte” on chalkboards, individual menus finally became a regular part of dining out.  During the last half of the 19 th century, many restaurants outdid each other in trying to make their menus artistic and elaborate.  Great artists did not consider it beneath their dignity to illustrate such menus and those decorated by Toulouse Lautrec, Renoir, Matisse and Gauguin have now become highly prized collectors items.  Sometimes artists would receive payment for their work, but more often they would accept meals in return.  Renoir prepared menus for his favourite restaurants and it is said that after the age of 35 he never again paid for restaurant bill.  Toulouse-Lautrec, a respected gourmet, agreed to sketch menus for those restaurants to which he was invited to dine “on the house”.

The tradition of giving individual menus to all clients became universally accepted in France only during the 1920’s.

An extract from Daniel Rogov’s “Ramblings”