Are These Old Menu Items Strange Or Healthy?

The New York Public Library has taken on an amazing project of collecting menus from the late nineteenth century to the current century. Those intrigued by this collection noticed that there are many strange and unusual things on menus from well over a century ago. However, some of the items the menus offered in the late 1800s seem to be a much healthier fare than what we currently encounter on menus today.

Cover of Gillespie's Restaurant Menu. Image from the New York Public Library under a Public Domain-Free to use without restriction License.
Cover of a 1907 Gillespie’s Restaurant Menu. Image from the New York Public Library under a Public Domain-Free to use without restriction License.

So far, the library has amassed 45,000 menus. The collection is as large as it is because it began in 1900 a one Miss Frank E. Buttolph.

The current goal, however, is not just collecting more menus, but transcribing them. This is a difficult task according to the NYPL’s wesbite, which states:

Trouble is, the menus are very difficult to search for the greatest treasures they contain: specific information about dishes, prices, the organization of meals, and all the stories these things tell us about the history of food and culture.”

The library has transcribed the dishes of some 17,545 menus. Of the ones they have analyzed, they reveal peculiar and strange foods our great (or great-great) grandparents enjoyed.

The menus are not only from common eateries, but include menus from hotels and steamboats, to events such as gala-balls, banquetsweddings and  meetings of all kinds.

New York Hotel Menu from 1859. Image from the New York Public Library under a Public Domain Free to use without restriction license.
New York Hotel Menu from 1859. Image from the New York Public Library under a Public Domain Free to use without restriction License.

Some of the more peculiar items from these include items such as cold (beef) tongue, lamb tonguebroiled mutton chops, fried pigs feet, and green turtle soup.  The peculiar items were not just limited to food, in fact, many restaurants listed tobacco items on their menus, such as cigars and cigarettes.

Though some conclude that offering some of the fare is strange, in looking at some of the simpler choices, I believe that they are much healthier than the selections our generation is given.

For example, some of these older menus list items such as celeryfresh radishes, beets, raisins, almonds, Spanish nuts, cucumbers, assortment of cheeses, oranges, figs, olives, chilled melon, and a variety of raw vegetables and fruit.

Troy House Daily Menu 1856. Image from the New York Public Library under a Public Domain Free to use without restriction License.
Troy House Daily Menu 1856. Image from the New York Public Library under a Public Domain Free to use without restriction License.

Many of the dishes on these old menus are familiar ones. The menus offer steak, oysters, fishcakes, pies, ice cream, wines, and, of course, coffee.

Regardless of any familiarity:

“[l]ike all good historical records, these menus make the past feel immediate, yet also remind us how it is foreign.

Though these menus are only from a bit over a century ago, they do feel immediate and present. Some of the food may seem foreign, however, considering many of these items are not offered on our menus today.

The NYPL has all these menus on display online for the entire world to enjoy. If you just want to look at the images, especially some of the beautiful covers, the library has an amazing digital collection, categorizing it by topic, including their menu collection.

Featured image from the New York Public Library Digital Collection under a Public Domain–Free to use without restriction License.