This episode considers the menu as documentation of cultural history and as representation of restaurant offerings. From our guests’ points of view, menus tell official stories of options and choice making, while also keeping certain things off the record. Alexia Moyer starts things off with a menu planning cookbook from 1967, followed up by a conversation with Koby Song-Nichols about his article, “Can historians order off the menu?”, from Vol. 11, No. 2 of Canadian Food Studies, published in August 2024. Finally, Anson Hunt shares his thoughts on how menus play their role in the ‘conversations’ that take place in and around restaurants.

Guests:

Alexia Moyer is co-Managing Editor of Canadian Food Studies and a founding member of the editorial collective, red line-ligne rouge, based in Montreal.

Koby Song-Nichols is a historian and food studies scholar based in Toronto whose research follows the ways Chinese Canadians and Chinese Americans have used food within intercultural and intergenerational relationships and communities.

Anson Hunt is a PhD student at Carleton University whose research revolves around alternative food systems and the potential roles of chefs and restaurants in the production and reception of food information.

Mentioned in this episode:

• Northern Cookbook edited by Eleanor A. Ellis
• For a selected list of menu collections, see the appendix in Koby Song-Nichols’ article, “Can Historians Order off the Menu?”

Credits:

Host/Producer: David Szanto

Executive Producers: Rachel Engler-Stringer, Laurence Godin, Charles Levkoe, Phil Loring, Kristen Lowitt

Audio consultant: Zélie Scherrer

Music: Alex Guz and Evgeny Bardyuzha on Pixabay

Additional music: Noru on Pixabay

Sound Effects: Aviana_Phoenix and BenKirb on Pixabay

Image: Merethe Liljedahl on Pixabay

#DigestingFoodStudies

Digesting Food Studies is funded in part by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, Lakehead University, and the Canadian Association for Food Studies.