Tastes and Traditions: A Journey Through Menu History

Award-winning Cooke (English, McGill Univ.; Canadian Literary Fare) explores the evolution and significance of food menus in this engaging illustrated history. 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. The book is cleverly organized around themes that highlight meaning (“Menus as Mementos”), design (“Riddle Me This: Menus That Intrigue”), and audience (“Menus for Children and for the Children We Once Were”). Throughout the book, Cooke asks readers to consider what the selected menus reflected at the moment and what might be learned from them in retrospect. Each chapter spans time and place and is accompanied by striking, full-color images of menus. This book will appeal broadly to nonfiction readers who are interested in culinary and cultural history as well as design.