Description

By (author) Cooke Nathalie

Short /annotation:
An engaging exploration of why menus matter and the stories they tell.

:
Menus are invaluable snapshots of the food consumed at specific moments in time and place. Tastes and Traditions: A Journey through Menu History provides glimpses into the meals enjoyed by royalty and rogues, and by those celebrating special occasions or sampling new culinary sensations. It describes food prepared for the great and the good, meals served during sieges and tablescapes immortalized in art. It explores how menus entertain adults, link food with play for children, reflect changing notions of health and highlight the enduring human need to make meals meaningful. Lavishly illustrated, this book offers an engaging exploration of why menus matter and the stories they tell, appealing to food lovers and general readers, as well as professionals in the food industry.

Table of contents:
Introduction: Where Can Menus Take Us?
Chapter One: Feasts for the Eyes
Chapter Two: Menus as Mementos
Chapter Three: Cultural Encounters
Chapter Four: Menus for Children and for the Children We Once Were
Chapter Five: Health on the Menu
Chapter Six: Riddle Me This: Menus That Intrigue
Conclusion: What Menus Can Do

References
Further Reading
Acknowledgements
Photo Acknowledgements
Index

Review quote:
“Cooke elucidates the value of the traditional restaurant menu. More than a list of dishes, it is a medium that can amuse, flatter, educate and tantalize diners, elevating the restaurant experience. Cooke’s copiously illustrated book is filled with color images of menus both ancient and modern, including a bill of fare made up solely of emojis (from a boundary-pushing “immersive dining” restaurant in Bangkok) . . . Tastes and Traditions shows us how menus, unlike the transitory attractions of the QR code, became imbued with human meaning.” –
Wall Street Journal
“This illustrated history of the menu explores how they shed light on culinary trends and reflect evolving notions of what’s healthy.” –
Publishers Weekly
“The traditional restaurant menu, as we learn in this McGill professor”s new book, can be a medium for expression, an artifact of life and trace moments in social change. Illustrated with examples, she covers three centuries of the evolution of dining à la carte.” –
The Globe and Mail: Books Gift Guide 2025
“Tastes and Traditions explores menus as strategic documents – much more than simple bills of fare. Menus, it says, do not always present their wares in a straightforward way; some go off the beaten path, becoming almost as important as the food itself . . . All are a delight to read through . . . Menus from across history are shared as an opportunity to “to take a leap of imagination,” vicariously peering over the shoulders of the guests who read them and experienced the inventive meals they represent.” –
Foreword Reviews
“Cooke considers aesthetic, textural, and culinary elements of menus to make a compelling case for their importance not only as a record of cuisine but as a cultural artifact and communication tool . . . This book will appeal broadly to nonfiction readers who are interested in culinary and cultural history as well as design. An entertaining and beautiful look at the history and significance of menus.” –
Library Journal
“Cooke’s illuminating book reveals . . . our relationship with menus via their whimsical, sophisticated, and sometimes downright disturbing designs . . . With a cover featuring a Henri Gervex Parisian Belle Époque café scene, Cooke’s book may seem imposing. But who hasn’t experienced that moment when thumbing through a menu, whether at a comfort food diner or fine dining establishment, of anticipation