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The blog at opentable.com took a recent look at the evolution of menu design.
Menus “’are a great reflection of pop culture, the eating habits of Americans, and a way to follow larger trends,’ says Jim Heimann, editor of Menu Design in America, 1850-1985 and a collector with more than 6,000 menus in his archives.
‘For example, speakeasies in the 1920’s had coded language on their menus. It might say, ‘Ginger ale is available for your consumption.’ This meant you had a mixer for your booze. During World War II, there was an absence of a lot of items due to rationing. And in the 1960’s, you see artwork reflective of the counterculture.’”
Menus, until relative recently, were professionally printed, and the bulk of the design budget was spent on the cover, which had to be enticing. Some even had depictions of scantily clad or nude women.
The menu itself was usually relatively plain.
“Dishes were traditionally grouped as appetizers, entrees, sides and desserts. The descriptions were kept to a minimum because oftentimes there were so many items that just listing them took up a majority of the available real estate. High-end restaurants might include slightly richer descriptions or throw in a few fancy French phrases to help justify the elevated prices. On the other hand, more casual eateries, such as drive-ins and diners, had a penchant for giving gimmicky names to items, like the Sloppy Joe, the Jucy Lucy (a cheese stuffed hamburger) and the Burn One All the Way (a milkshake made with chocolate malted milk and chocolate ice cream).”
At the end of the twentieth century, however, desktop publishing made it much easier to print menus at minimal expense.
“As a result, modern menus refuse to play by the rules. Chefs are thinking way beyond the usual categories. Instead, they might group the types of dishes together thematically, like at Kinship in Washington, D.C., where menu categories include “craft,” “history,” “ingredients,” and “indulgence.” Or they might use playful names, like at The Fainting Goat in Washington, D.C., which features “nibbles” (snacks), “graze” (vegetable dishes), and “feed” (meat-driven dishes). Categories might even be driven by the main protein, like at The Partisan in Washington, D.C., whose menu features categories such as fish, poultry & game, beef, and pork. New York City’s Eleven Madison Park used to simply list the single main ingredient in each dish.”
Now in the 21st century, some restaurants have done away with printed menus entirely, instead offering choices on an iPad.
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