Borza Tibor (szerk.): A Magyar Kereskedelmi és Vendéglátóipari Múzeum évkönyve 1970 (Budapest, Magyar Kereskedelmi és Vendéglátóipari Múzeum, 1970)

Gundel Imre: Adalékok az étlap, menülap, árlap történetéhez

I. GUNDEL DATA TO THE HISTORY OF MENUS, BILLS OF FARE AND PRICE-LISTS The aim of the essay is to deal with the appearance of menus and winelists and their evolution in Hungary respectively, apart from the definition of the four kinds of prints serving the aims of the supply of goods, the communication of assortment and quotation, the programme of meals and entertainments. The ancient form of the menucard can be found with the Romans, the modern form of it, however, appears only in the 15th and 16th centuries. The birth of the menucard had been the necessary result of the establishment of the first restaurants and the appearance of the à la carte form of meal respectively, namely in Paris and Vienna respectively, in the last decades of the 18th century, and in Hungary in the 1810s. The author deals with 13 menus from the years between 1834 and 1892 touching upon their form, technique, content and language, with references to changes in the customs of consumptions in the years that followed. The price-lists of dishes and drinks consisting of one page in the 19th century were enlarged to booklets of 8—12 pages, full of advertisements and appeals at the turn of the century in content, however, they did not bring too many changes. The oldest copy of a winelist left to us that was separate from the menu derives from the early years of 1890. Concerning the almost wasteful abundance both of drink and food assortment the climax has been reached in the thirties in some restaurants of the middle class. In the end the author describes a few curiosities, then he tells the reader that his next essay on menus, pricelists and programmes will be published in the next year-book. 249