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The word "menu" originally indicated that the "small" detail of the meal was being listed; supposedly this was first done in private households.

"Carte" originally referred to the bill. Terms for the menu were more general ("sheet", etc.)

The idea that tables d'hote were the only way to dine out before the restaurant is a myth (see the article for Restaurant). The table d'hote only appeared towards the end of the seventeenth century; people were dining out long before that and there are numerous examples of itemized bills before the restaurant. The menu is so poorly documented even after the restaurant appears that it is hard to say if it existed before that innovation, at least handheld; but statutes in the sixteenth century required taverns, cabarets and inns to post itemized lists of officially set prices.

All this fastidious to document. if I find the sources, I'll update the article.23.113.53.110 (talk)05:50, 1 October 2018 (UTC)[reply]

This is an interesting historical perspective on menus! It’s fascinating to see how the concept evolved from household listings to public displays in taverns and eventually into restaurants. The mention of sixteenth-century statutes requiring itemized lists is particularly intriguing—early regulations on pricing must have influenced how menus developedAli haidr (talk)21:36, 23 March 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I added the off topic tag to this article. The article contains little information about the history of menus or their function in the restaurant business, and instead contains culturally limited and rather uninformative truisms about different meals and the nutrition sought from them, which probably belongs at an article ondiet (nutrition) rather than here. -Smerdis of Tlön (talk)14:50, 27 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I have attempted to add a bit of more relevant info to the article, but I have not yet removed much of the text that was originally here, except for a bit that seemed to be shilling for an online menu service. -Smerdis of Tlön (talk)16:02, 27 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

In the English language Wikipedia, is there no other choice for the "main" picture than a menu written in Russian? --Hbar.cc (talk)03:37, 28 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

This article talk page was automatically added with{{WikiProject Food and drink}} banner as it falls underCategory:Restaurants or one of its subcategories. If you find this addition an error, Kindly undo the changes and update the inappropriate categories if needed. You can find the related request for tagginghere --TinucherianBot (talk)10:23, 2 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I added a link to[1]. Academia Barilla has the cultural scope to promote the italian food culture and it has a huge collection of historical menues. In this and connected pages they show in good resolution an intresting part of their collection. I think this could be a good link to add to this page but it was deleted.—Precedingunsigned comment added byAlexicaro69 (talk •contribs)19:33, 12 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Your contributionsdon't indicate your intent might only be topromote a website. If it's notable and useful, expect that someone else will re-add it to the page. However, please readWP:EL andWP:COI carefully.tedder (talk)19:41, 12 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I've removed it after it was added again. It's too far off topic and promotional. --Ronz (talk)18:36, 1 July 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Isn't namedropping a specific company in reference to a non-patented technology verboten on Wikipedia? Why is there a company listed there in the post? I think this should be removed in lieu of the fact that if I really wanted to know where to go for digital signage and menu systems... search engines are there for that purpose.—Precedingunsigned comment added by12.191.30.130 (talk)14:52, 8 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

It certainly is the case that a lot of menus use pretentious descriptions, but is "poached" really an example?Iapetus (talk)07:29, 5 April 2016 (UTC)[reply]

On searching for menu information I noticed this page shows up with email addresses in the search results (I used Ecosia for this search). I'm concerned about these and think they should be removed but I don't know how to do this. Perhaps admin or a bot can help? Regards Felix 14:04, 30 March 2020 (UTC)Felixnicholson (talk)

I use Wikipedia several times I've made donations and will continue making now, I know how important Wikipedia really is to all of us personally I don't think they see that and they won't until it's gone. We are all short on money with the Holiday. I can spare at least $10. Just a small amount and they're not asking for a lot they're asking to start with $2 if you just donate the $2 and tell friends you know have helped other causes $2 adds up fast and then think of people who donate $5, $10, and Wikipedia is free for us to use. Most important how many of us have paida fortune either to use or pay a membership for so much less than what Wikipedia offers. Take care and Happy Holidays I hope to see you here next year.2600:1000:B10E:28F8:F452:E251:21AF:9865 (talk)23:11, 22 December 2021 (UTC)[reply]

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