A Visual Feast: The History of Menu Design

Son loved this book. It arrived as described and in great condition.

I think i may be a nerd but i found this really interesting to look at.

This big coffee table book is interesting, entertaining, and informative. It's amazing what menus can reveal about a society. The one big surprise here is how many menus were decorated with nude figures--particularly women. I don't normally associate nudity and cuisine! A fun and visually arresting book. I recommend.

per un regalo particolare

I own many books by Steven Heller & Jim Heimann and they're all wonderful, as is this book. It has a HUGE selection of really beautiful menus spanning more than 100 years, plus the introduction is very interesting and informative. Another terrific publication by Taschen!

Great present - beautiful book and great idea

Great condition. Lack of written knowledgeable relevant material. Solid coffee table picture book

This book had been on my list since it came out, but I only recently found it used. It's just gorgeous! The menus in it are printed perfectly and it's a heavy, hardback book. Taschen has a reputation for excellent quality and this book definitely lives up to that promise.

This is a great book! Full of big, beautiful photos it is certainly a time capsule of a golden age of menu design. Great for those who love ephemera or just like a glimpse into the past!

As much fun to read as it is to look at the pictures

everything you ever wanted to know about menus, and more. enormous, hardbound book with high quality images, thick paper, and about 2" thick -- i.e. superb value for the price I paid (scored it for $33 when Amazon was running a promotion for 25% off on any book.) Taschen does not disappoint with this one - definitely worth getting if you're into Americana, vintage / retro stuff, or graphic design.

Bought this as a gift for our daughter-in-law, but had to peek at it before I gave it to her. It was most interesting. Something that would be useful for both professionals or anyone who just has a love for food culture. Beautiful illustrations.

Lots of great history in these menus. Also, inspiration for artists and graphic designers. A history of restaurants and dining.

I bought this for my niece. She collects cookbooks, books on culinary history and any other food-related books. Nobody puts out finer books than Taschen. The information is extensive and very entertaining. The pictures are fabulous. If you enjoy the Tashcen series of the decades, you will love this.

Students of graphic design, fans of Americana, and anyone appreciative of cultural history will find this tome invaluable.

An outstanding reference covering the period from the mid-1850s thru the early 1980s - a full century of changing tastes, technical advancements, and even social maturation; revealing our love of and history with dining out.

The coverage is surprisingly deep, with menus representing the most elite haute cuisine to what we now call the 'Three Ds' - diners, drive-ins and dives; providing a fascinating look into the past, glimpsing concepts and ideas about the meals and beverages that were offered from culinary trained chefs to roadhouse slingers.

As usual, some of the most compelling aspects for me personally was discovering food options that are no longer mainstream. A couple of examples: Having to look up the term "Shirred Eggs", which made regular appearances during the early part of the twentieth-century. And "Tongue Sandwich", a common working person's lunch and breakfast item of the period which is, in my opinion, self explanatory as to its current exclusion from menus today.

My only criticism would be that, while I absolutely loved the massive full-color images, there was something to be said about the lack of editorial content. Simply: There just wasn't enough of it. Primarily due to the fact that space for the written word was gobbled up by the application of three different languages for each comment, wiping out the potential for additional insight. Unfortunate, as I would've loved more background - both factual and anecdotal - for many of the menus on display.

The sad thin of layer of insightful text was the only serious flaw to what is easily one of, if not, the best collections I've ever encountered on this subject.

A very strong four stars.

Notes:

- While this is representative of Taschen's typical excellence, whose printed volumes showcase high quality and exceptional content for any number of specialty markets, I suspect had Chronicle Publishing handled the book design aspect, I would've given this an across the board five pointer rating.

- This is a physically large and very heavy book. One I would estimate weighs between 4-5lbs. It's not something one can easily manage for some light nighttime reading prior to sleep.

Recommendation:

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This is way nicer than I expected it to be. It was for my son and when he opened it, I was as surprised as he was at the quality. Nice!!

Good inspiration, although as described in the title all of these menus are from the 1850-1980s. I wish there were some current examples of good menu design. Some of the menus in this are very simple and plain, hardly what I would call "great"...but all in all a decent book if you want to get a feel for what is expected in restaurant menu design.

I had read a review of this book in a business journal, where it was praised highly. I found it to meet expectations.

 Although not perfect quality, this book is overall gorgeous and has good content. But be aware, a $40 book can have flaws.

Bought this book as a gift, but love it so much I had to buy a copy for my self!

I received this book as a gift from my sister today. It is such a beautifully produced book. From the cover to the binding to the paper it's printed on. The content is wonderful, too. I am sitting here marveling at it. It is lovely to hold and page through. Lovely images and color throughout. Definitely a must-have for graphic designers or just anyone interested in menu design.

I received this book as a gift. I've found it quite interesting--there are two critical essays, and then many pages of images of menus, with short descriptions. The descriptions are well-researched, with more information that you often find in an exhibition catalogue.

This is a marvelous book, as we might expect given that it's Americana from Jim Heimann, who was responsible for the wonderful "All American Ads" series. Paging through this volume is like taking a trip through time, and it's a very different way of experiencing history. We learn what was served in restaurants and at banquets, how much meals cost, and we also get a sense of style which is portrayed in the striking and often unique graphics of each menu. From class to crass, it's a fabulous collection. The paper stock is sturdy, the printing is first class, and I can't recommend it more highly. If you have even the slightest interest in this, buy it. You'll be glad you did. And it's a great gift book for just about anyone -- after all, who doesn't like to go out to eat?

As a dilettantish graphic designer with a restaurant in an art deco building from the 1930s, I find this book completely necessary. I can't believe that I've suffered these past years without it. This book, which I bought yesterday and have since spent hours studying, tells me to be more ambitious. Menu designs of the past completely eclipse those of the present, which is upsetting because our tools are now much easier to use. I will aim higher.

Furthermore, this book is an unrivaled socio-historical document in regards to how we've eaten. I finally know how all of those 'relish trays' that pop up at thrift stores were used. Baby radishes, heart of celery, and jumbo green olives. I now want green turtle soup, badly... just to see what the fuss was about. The more I study this book, the more revealing it is because menus capture an entire network of social, cultural, and economic information.

I ordered this from a local retailer the second that I heard about it and it will literally change my life. It's the most important book that I've bought since I stumbled across Jane Jacob's Death and Life of Great American Cities 15 years ago. Six stars.

I hope no other publisher is thinking of doing a book on menu design because Jim Heimann's wonderful collection in this Taschen title can't be beat. With almost eight hundred covers and nicely, many showing the insides so you can see what was available when your folks ate out decades ago.

It's the inside meal listings that I found intriguing: the Palmer House in Chicago, on May 17, 1885, offered Fried frogs, a la Crapotine; when the Iowa Register and Tribune papers had their banquet in 1917 they could tuck into Dross smothered in onions; United States Lines SS America on Monday June 9, 1930 listed a dessert called Blanc mange; the Sea Cave in Oakland, California, had thirty-three oyster dishes and claimed `We open our oysters daily'.

Little snippets of information pop up everywhere. The 1943 San Diego Red Sails Inn menu said 'We are closed on Tuesdays', because of wartime regulations required meatless Tuesdays. The Disney Studio in 1942 had very low prices for breakfast, in the staff canteen, to prevent their workers going of the lot. Many of the menus before 1940 have daily dates printed on them, presumably they were frown away when the places closed at night. All the up-market menus used a mixture of French and English though the swanky New York Colony in 1954 had every thing in French and handwritten, too.

The menus included aren't just restaurants but from anywhere that provided cooked food, the Colony to Bob's Big Boy and everything in between, no early McDonalds though. The covers come in all sorts of sizes and shapes, a few shown include location maps and I found one that featured photographs of the meals.

The book is the usual well designed Taschen format. Good page layouts and printing with a 150 screen. I would have preferred to see a gloss paper to bring out the wonderful colorful graphics rather than the slightly soft matt art that has been used.

Jim Heinmann's book will be a treat for those in the food business and graphic designers will appreciate all the amazing visual goodies. This is his second title on the subject, check out