Menu

In a restaurant, a menu is a presentation of food and beverage offerings. A menu may be à la carte – which guests use to choose from a list of options – or table d'hôte, in which case a pre-established sequence of courses is served.

History

Menus, as a list of prepared foods, have been discovered dating back to the Song Dynasty in China. In the larger populated cities of the time, merchants found a way to cater to busy customers who had little time or energy to prepare food during the evening. The variation in Chinese cuisine from different regions led caterers to create a list or menu for their patrons.

The word "menu," like much of the terminology of cuisine, is French in origin. It ultimately derives from Latin "minutus," something made small; in French it came to be applied to a detailed list or résumé of any kind. The original menus that offered consumers choices were prepared on a small chalkboard, in French a carte; so foods chosen from a bill of fare are described as "à la carte," "according to the board."