PrintNew York Public Library Menu Collection is Probably Better Than Yours
Rebecca Federman has a pretty sweet job. As a librarian at the New York Public Library, she's in charge of the menu collection stacks. Who knew such a department even existed?! In this video interview with Chow, Federman shows us the collection, first organized in 1900 by Miss Frank E. Buttolph. Menus take us through history: from prohibition (no wine list), to presidential dinners, to Wheatless Wednesdays during wartime.
"I used to have a thing against take-out menus...but especially in New York, it really gives you a sense of time and place."
As an avid menu collector myself, this could be the coolest reason to visit a library. I only collect menus from meals I've eaten, so my oldest is from a birthday dinner at Ming Tsai's Blue Ginger in April of 2000. Are you a lunatic menu collector like me? What's the best menu in your collection? [via Eater]
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8 Comments:
If I recall correctly, most of the menus are from catered events and not restaurants, but it's still pretty neat to see how food preferences have changed over the years/decades/century. Who knew aspic was so popular? *shudders*
jeninewsbite at 5:04PM on 07/24/08
i love my little menu collection! french laundry, jean-georges, even chinatown icecream factory!
dmarina at 6:05PM on 07/24/08
The NYPL has so much cool stuff. One of the coolest things I've ever seen in any museum or gallery was their show on maps. This map blew me away, I want one! I bet they could put together a menu show that would be pretty damn amazing...
simon at 9:50PM on 07/24/08
Just out of curiosity- do restaurants frown on menu collecting? Must one pay for the menu?
It's certainly an interesting idea, and I imagine it would make a great scrapbook / archive if done consistently.
Lilly at 11:21PM on 07/24/08
@ Lily - Most restaurants that I've asked at, don't seem to mind- but now that I think about it, most of these places have menus that change often, so the physical menu is pretty disposable (and they'll end up throwing them away anyway.) I feel like the really great restaurants have them photocopied and ready for you, because they know people are going to ask for them. I've never gotten a permanent/laminated/fancy menu from any restaurant I've eaten at.
Zach Brooks at 11:28PM on 07/24/08
That is AWESOME. When I got married one of my mom's best friends gave me a copy of How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman and also made me my very own "How to Order Everything" binder of menus from assorted restaurants in Park Slope. Both books have an equally important place in my kitchen. :)
BrooklynBrownie at 11:48PM on 07/24/08
Federman has a blog, too: http://cookedbooks.blogspot.com/
Adam Kuban at 12:09AM on 07/25/08
The library at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas has many collections, includingn a menu collection from early Las Vegas Hotels.
PattiShock at 12:50AM on 09/11/08