At the turn of the century, however, Jim explains that design began to be more influenced by various art movements, making way for Art Nouveau and later modernism to take centre stage.

Please try again later as the restrictions may be lifted, or contact your service provider if the issue persists. Starting with the 19th century, the book offers up some early examples of menu design, just as the very idea of a restaurant menu was beginning to grow in popularity across the continent. So, although one cannot sit in La Tour D’Argent in 1952 and sample its famous duck dish Le Caneton Tour d’Argent, we can surely imagine what it was like when looking at the waterfowl-themed illustration displaying the night’s offerings.Liners were equally glamorous and, as Heimann points out, after prohibition was introduced in the US in 1920, a cruise on a European ship held an added attraction for American tourists. Es sind verschiedene Stildekaden vertreten - von Jugendstil- und Art-déco-Meisterwerken bis hin zu den grafischen Aneignungen der DDR. As late as 1970 Air France was offering travellers from Heathrow a menu designed in the style of a couture house drawing, evocative scribbles in chic colourways suggesting an elegant woman in the modish trouser suit of the day. The meals themselves and their relative importance in the pattern of the day also shifted over time.

The restaurant menu, however, holds many pitfalls for those too young or socially awkward to ask questions. A range of stylistic decades is represented, from masterpieces of Art Nouveau and Art Deco to the graphic appropriations of the German Democratic Republic. Menu Design in Europe is a mouthwatering feast for the eyes, featuring hundreds of European menus from the early 19th century to the end of the millennium. Knowing which knives and forks to use, how to manipulate a lobster pick, avoid spaghetti whiplash and not to drink from the finger bowl are among the skills required in more formal settings, but there is always etiquette.In their graphics the menus reflect period more noticeably than nationality, though there are local peculiarities.