Menu
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2008-07-03T11:04:35Z
JAnDbot
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robot Adding: [[cs:Jídelní lístek]], [[es:Menú (restaurante)]]
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[[Image:Businesslunchmenu.sergeyrest.moscow.jpg|thumb|right|250px|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 (nutrition)|diet]], the selection of foods available generally to a particular location or culture.
==History==
[[Image:Delmonico menu April 1899.jpg|thumb|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 "[[tutti frutti (food)|plombière]] of [[chestnut|marrons]]".]]
The word ''menu'', like much of the terminology of [[cuisine]], is [[French language|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."
Along with the development of the earliest [[restaurant]]s catering largely to the middle [[Four occupations|merchant class]], the menu also [[Culture of the Song Dynasty#Food and cuisine|found its origins]] in [[China]] during the [[Song Dynasty]] (960–1279).<ref>Gernet, Jacques (1962). ''Daily Life in China on the Eve of the Mongol Invasion, 1250-1276''. Translated by H. M. Wright. Stanford: Stanford University Press. ISBN 0-8047-0720-0. Page 133.</ref>
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 [[banquet]]s. 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.<ref>Rebecca L. Spang, ''The Invention of the Restaurant: Paris and Modern Gastronomic Culture'' (Harvard, 2000: ISBN 0674006852)</ref>
==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.<ref>Sara Dickerman, "[http://www.slate.com/id/2082098/ Eat Your Words: A Guide to Menu English]" ([[slate.com]], byline April 29, 2003, accessed Nov. 27, 2007)</ref>
==Specific types of menus==
*[[hospital]] menus
*[[railroad]] menus
*[[fast food]] menus
*[[airline meal]]
*[[military rations]]
*[[Portal:Wine|winelist]]
[[Image:Rally Menu.jpg|thumb|In [[fast food]] restaurants such as this [[Checkers (fast food)|Rally's]], the menu is typically a brightly lit public display rather than a printed card.]]
==References==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
*[http://www.allmenus.com Allmenus] - Menu collection (United States)
* [http://www.foodtimeline.org/food1.html Food Timeline] - Culinary History Timeline: Social history, manners & menus
*[http://content.lib.washington.edu/menusweb/index.html University of Washington Libraries Digital Collections - Menus] Menus, placemats, and other graphic materials from many of the Puget Sound area's most famous restaurants and dining facilities in the years between 1889 and 2003. Go to View All Items to see all menus.
[[Category:Restaurant terminology]]
[[bg:Меню]]
[[cs:Jídelní lístek]]
[[de:Speisekarte]]
[[es:Menú (restaurante)]]
[[eo:Manĝokarto]]
[[fa:منو]]
[[fr:Menu (restauration)]]
[[ko:차림표]]
[[he:תפריט]]
[[nl:Menu (restaurant)]]
[[ja:献立]]
[[fi:Ruokalista]]
[[sv:Restaurangmeny]]
[[zh-yue:餐牌]]
[[zh:菜單]]