FOOD, CULTURE, AND POWER: THE ROLE OF FOOD IN HISTORY
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Fall 2004
Prof. Martha Carlin
There is an excellent collection of miscellaneous historic menus, cookery
books, individual recipes, and other culinary history material at the Web
site of the International
Guild of Hospitality & Restaurant Managers . There
is also an interesting collection of American menus (plus a few British
menus) at Collectible
Meals .
SOME HISTORIC MENUS:
I. Asia:
Bible (1 Kings, 5:2-3): daily provisions for Solomon's palace (Jerusalem, 970-928 BC)
Ashurnasirpal II, King of Assyria (Calah, Assyria): palace inauguration banquet (883 x 859 BC)
Sir Edwin Arnold: description of a Japanese dinner party (1890)
Helen
Caddick, Travel Diaries (1889 - 1914): Description of a dinner at
Dr. Wang's (China?, 1909)
(Scroll down to extract for 19 Feb. 1909)
Kashmiri
royal banquet, or Wazwan (20th cent.)
II. Africa:
Ibn Battuta
(b. Morocco 1304? d. 1368?), Rihla (Travels): Food in Somalia
(January 1331, Mogadishu)
(Scroll down to extract by Ibn Battuta: "They cook banana before it
is ripe")
Olaudah Equiano: typical meals in Nigeria (c. 1750) (Scroll down to click on "An African Dinner")
Richard Francis
Burton: typical breakfast and dinner menus in West Africa (1850s)
(Scroll down to extract by Burton: "Most of the dishes are boiled"
)
Richard Francis
Burton: food of the Arabs of the Lake regions of Central Africa (late 1850s)
(Scroll down to extract by Burton: "Boko-Boko is the roast beef--the
plat de resistance--of the Eastern and African Arab")
Richard Francis
Burton: the staple food of the poor in the Lake regions of Central Africa
(late 1850s)
(Scroll down down to extract by Burton: "Such is ugali, or porridge,
the staff of life in East Africa")
Richard Francis
Burton: Diet of the wealthy in the Lake regions of Central Africa (late
1850s)
(Scroll down to extract by Burton: "Meat is the diet most prized")
Richard Francis
Burton: dinner with traders from Zanzibar (late 1850s)
(Scroll down to extract by Burton: " The plat de résistance
was, as usual, the pillaw" )
Alexander Bulatovich,
diary of a journey in Ethiopia with the army of Menelik II: dinners (1897-8)
(See the Russian diarist's entries for 27-28 December 1897, 11 Jan.
1898)
Ernest Hemingway:
typical food of the Masai (East Africa, 1933)
(Scroll down to extract by Hemingway)
Sembene Ousmane:
fast food in the market stalls of French West Africa (1970)
(Scroll down to this excerpt from Ousmane's novel, God's Bits of
Wood: "The stalls of the women who sold foodstuffs")
Richard Trench:
dinner with nomads of the Malian Sahara (1974)
III. Europe:
Mucius Lentulus Niger (Rome): pontifical feast (63 BC)
Three Roman menus (1st cent. BC - 1st cent. AD)
Petronius
Arbiter (c. AD 27-66), Satyricon: Trimalchio's banquet
(A fictional meal.)
Two
royal banquet menus (London and Westminster, England, c. 1390s)
(Menus for a feast given for Richard II by "Lord Spenser" (Thomas
le Despenser, created earl of Gloucester 29 Sept. 1397), and
for a feast at the king's court.)
King Henry IV (Westminster, England): coronation banquet (Oct. 1399)
John Stafford, Bishop of Bath and Wells (Wells, England): induction feast (Sept. 1425)
John
Stafford, Archbishop of Canterbury (Canterbury, England): installation
feast (1443)
(Scroll down to Stafford's menu.)
A
Proper newe Booke of Cokerye (London, c.1545): sample dinner and supper
menus
(Scroll down to the section headed: "¶. Here after foloweth
the order of meates how they must be served at the Table with their
sauces for fleshe dayes at dynner.")
A.W., A
Book of Cookrye (London, 1591)
(Sample menus for dinners and suppers are given at the beginning of
this early printed cookbook.)
Samuel
Pepys (London), Diary: menu of a dinner at home (26 Jan. 1660)
(Scroll down to read Pepys's diary entry for 26 Jan. 1660.)
Hannah
Woolley, The Gentlewoman's Companion: or, A Guide to the Female Sex
(London, 1675)
(Scroll down to the end of the recipes to click on two chapters
containing sample menus: "Section -- A Bill of Fare of Suitable Meat for
Every Month in the Year," and "Section -- Bills of Fare for Fasting
Days or Lent.")
James Lind, diet for British Navy scurvy patients (1747)
Workhouse diet for men and women (Abingdon, 1836) (Scroll down to the Abingdon Workhouse dietary.)
George Brant,
Diary
("My Journey from Portsmouth to Rockhampton Australia"): description of
ship meals (1884)
(Click on "Continue" and then on "Diaries, Journals, and Reports."
Scroll down to 1884 and click on George Brant's entry. Scroll down
to entry for 23 Sept. 1884.)
Alexander Palace (Tsarskoye Selo, Russia): Luncheon on the Empress's Name-Day (April 23, 1897)
RMS Titanic: menus for all classes (April 1912)
Alexander Palace (Tsarskoye Selo, Russia): Luncheon Honoring the Visiting British Fleet (June 1914)
Belgian Restaurant, New York World's Fair: luncheon menu (July 1939)
Nobel
Prize annual banquet menus (Stockholm, Sweden: 1901-2002)
IV. The Americas:
Moctezuma II (early 16th cent.): royal meals (the Aztec king's meals, as described by Bernal Diaz.)
Old
Colony Club: Forefathers' Day banquet menu (Plymouth, Massachusetts, 22
Dec. 1769)
(First annual commemoration of the Pilgrims' landing at Plymouth in
1620.)
American Army: Standard ration for enlisted soldiers, as defined by Continental Congress (4 Nov. 1775) Scroll down to Appendix I for ration.
British Army: Standard weekly rations for soldiers during the American Revolutionary War (American Colonies, c. 1776-9) Several sets of rations are described in this article, including rations for invalid soldiers.
Elizabeth
Le Breton Gunn, Journal and Letters: descriptions of meals (on board
ship, Philadelphia-San Francisco, 1851)
(See, e.g., descriptions of meals on pp. 94, 98-99) and (Sonora,
California, 1851-4) (see, e.g., descriptions of meals on
pp. 140, 141.)
Louisville Hotel: Table d'hôte (23 Oct. 1857)
Mrs. S. L. Skilton's Eating House: Bill of fare (Boston, Massachusetts, 1860)
Julia
Johnson Fisher, Diary: description of daily meals and Christmas
dinner (Camden County, Georgia, 1863-4)
(Scroll down to entries for 6 Jan. and 13 Jan. 1864. Other
entries describe this Southern household's fluctuating food supplies during
the months of January-August 1864.)
Emma
Florence LeConte, Diary: Description of a typical day's meals (Columbia,
South Carolina, 23 Jan. 1865)
(Breakfast and dinner for a Southern family, near the end of
the Civil War. This entry is on page 11 of the text.)
Abraham
Lincoln, second inaugural ball, dinner menu (Washington, D.C., 6 March
1865)
(Scroll down for photograph of the original menu, and click on it to
enlarge it.)
Hardy's Delmonico lunch (Boston, Massachusetts, 9 Dec.1868)
Knox
and Co.'s Horticultural Dining Rooms: bill of fare (Boston, Massachusetts,
Feb. 1869)
(See all 4 pages, and also the related public
notice of 1 Jan. 1869 .)
Mary
Snow Sinton, Diary: wedding dinner (Caroline, New York, Dec. 1880)
(The wedding is described under the entry for 6 Feb. 1881.)
Alice
Cunningham Fletcher: Diary (Dakota Territory, 1881): descriptions
of meals while camping with the Sioux
(Click on calendar for diary entries for September 16 (dinner),
September 23 (supper), October 1 (dinner), October 13 (breakfast and dinner),
October 24 (breakfast and supper).)
Dinner
and breakfast menus for correspondents traveling to the Republican national
convention (30-31 May1884)
Meals provided by the B. & O. Telegraph company to the Washington
correspondents travelling to the Republican national convention in Chicago.
Dinner was at the Queen City Hotel in Cumberland, Maryland, and breakfast
in the B. & O. dining car on the train.
Carrie Sayre, Travel journal, from Ohio to Kansas: supper (Sept. 1885)
Godey's Lady's Book: Menu for Christmas dinner (Dec. 1890) With recipes for each dish listed.
Plaza, New York: dinner menu (Nov. 1899)
Haan's Restaurant (New York): bill of fare (Dec. 1899)
Child's Lunch Rooms (New York): bill of fare (Jan. 1900)
The Cooper Lunch Counter (New York): menu (23 Jan. 1900)
Sherry's, New York: Sunday luncheon menu (4 Feb. 1900)
Royal Café (Cleary Creek, Alaska): menu (1906) Scroll to bottom to click on all three pages of this menu.
Cecil Café (Fairbanks, Alaska): menu (1906) Scroll to bottom to click for both pages of this menu.
Miriam Florence
Best: Diary (Mankato, Minnesota, 1911-13): descriptions of meals
(The diarist was attending the Mankato State Normal School, or teachers'
college. Click on "Diary entries, Part 2," and scroll down to the
entries for Friday, Feb. 21, 1913, and Tuesday, April 1, 1913.)
The Oriental Grill (714 K Street, Sacramento, California): menu (9 Nov. 1916)
US Naval Base, Port Hueneme, California: Thanksgiving dinner menu (1944)
US Naval Station, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba: Ship's Service Restaurant menu (1946)
Company
A, 84th Engineer Battalion (Qui Nhon, Vietnam): Thanksgiving dinner menu
(1965)
V. Australia
Menu
for a dinner held in the Sydney Town Hall, 21 August 1883
(From the papers of Sir Edmund Barton)
Menu for Hardwicke
Society annual dinner, Holborn 1901
(From the papers of Sir Edmund Barton)
Menu
for a dinner [given] to the South Ward Committee and Workers by F. Stroud,
(Cheltenham, 1903)
(This appears to be a menu for a Christmas dinner. From the papers
of Sir Edmund Barton.)
![Menu for a dinner [given] to the South Ward Committee and Workers by F. Stroud, (Cheltenham, 1903)](http://www.nla.gov.au/nla.ms/ms/000/051/010/012/36/nla.ms-ms000051-010-01236-s002-v.jpg){kind=link}