This is an article written by Janneke Vreugdenhil.
In the spring of 1966 my parents, youthful, poor, just married and madly in love, went on a trip to Paris and made reservations to have dinner at Maxim’s.

Sophisticated enough to know this was the place to eat in those days but ignorant of the ruling dress code, my mother showed up in jeans, my father wearing an old sweater. The gerant refused to let them in. Only after elaborate high school French smooth talking on my dad’s part, the young couple was given a table in the remotest, darkest corner of the illustrious restaurant, where they had a meal they couldn’t actually afford.

As a child I found this the most romantic story, and asked my mother to tell it over and over. What did my dad say to convince the gerant? How did the beau monde look when they saw this wretched looking couple entering the dining room? For some reason she doesn’t recollect the menu that night, which I always found a shame. But hey, look what I found online: An original Maxim’s menu from 1966. Now maybe my mom will remember what she ate. I bet she had Soufflé au Grand Marnier for dessert, and, both for economic and romantic reasons, shared it with my dad.

What’s On The Menu is a New York Public Library website and one of largest menu collections in the world. Browsing through it is like discovering a long lost world of culinary culture. Just reading what was served at the twenty-fifth anniversary of the New York Press Club on December 4 1897, in the Waldorf Astoria (oysters, turban of bass, redhead ducks, fancy ice creams), evokes a vivid picture of chandeliers and champagne. It takes only a little amount of imagination to also smell the cigars.

Studying the menus served at ocean steamers and cruise ships throughout the years is not just interesting for curious foodies like myself, but also for historians, sociologists, graphic designers, chefs and novelists.

You can search for ‘turtle’ and find its meat was highly fashionable around 1900 and abandoned since the fifties. Or you can search for ‘pizza’ and find it wasn’t on any American menu before 1955.

Since the collection holds over 40.000 menu’s that, in order to make them searchable, all need transcribing, everyone visiting What’s on the Menu is welcomed to help. But consider yourself warned; deciphering the ‘Tageskarte’ of the Ratsweinkeller Hamburg (July 20, 1955) can be quite addictive. I gave it a head start with Pökelnacken übergebraten in Rahm, Steinpilze, Kartoffeln. Who else wants to dig in?