The American Menu

Paris,  1842 Eight counties, ten small cities, thirty townships, and numerous streets, schools, parks, and lakes are named after...

New York City,  1904 The scene is still funny. Appearing in the Sunday comic section of the New York World in March 1899, the firs...

Washington, D.C. & New York City 1902 There was an intriguing story behind the menu that supposedly came from the state dinner ...

Washington, D.C. & New York City 1879 Ortolan is the French common name for a finch-like bunting that is a native of Europe and...

New York City 1901-1912 By the late 1890s, the neighborhood surrounding Madison Square Park had lost some of its luster. After being the ce...

New York City, 1903 In the nineteenth century, Europeans visiting the United States were fascinated by how quickly Americans ate their meals...

New York City & Chicago 1904-1911 In the early twentieth century, there was a growing awareness that exercise and diet played an ...

New York City,  1903-04 The Laurel was one of only a few vegetarian restaurants in New York at the turn of the last century. Techni...

Iowa, Kansas, New Jersey & New York The major happenings of 1885 involved large things—the Statue of Liberty arrived from France; th...

Washington, D.C. & San Francisco Christmas, 1890 Two menus from Christmas Day in 1890 reflect regional differences in cuisine at a...