From the Financial Times's long-standing restaurant critic Nicholas Lander comes this celebration of the history, design and evolution of the world's favourite piece of paper: the menu. On the Menu is a stunning collection of menus, from those at the cutting edge of contemporary culinary innovation, like Copenhagen's Noma, to those that are relics from another time: a 1970s menu from L’Escargot on which all main courses cost less than one pound; the last menu from The French House Dining Room before Fergus Henderson departed for St John; a Christmas feast of zoo animals served during the Siege of Paris in 1870; and three of the world’s original restaurant menus—now hanging proudly in London’s Le Gavroche. Throughout, Lander examines the principles of menu design and layout; the different rules that govern separate menus for breakfast, afternoon tea and dessert; the evolution of wine and cocktail lists; and how menus can act as records of the past. He reveals insights from interviews with Michael Anthony, Heston Blumenthal, Massimo Bottura, René Redzepi, Ruth Rogers and many more of the most renowned contemporary chefs of our time, who explain how they decide what to serve and what inspires them to create and design their menus. These are truly pages to drool over.

There were signs all throughout town telling eight-year-old Connie where she could and could not go. But when Connie sees four young men take a stand for equal rights at a Woolworth’s lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina, she realizes that things may soon change. This event sparks a movement throughout her town and region. And while Connie is too young to march or give a speech, she helps her brother and sister make signs for the cause. Changes are coming to Connie’s town, but Connie just wants to sit at the lunch counter and eat a banana split like everyone else.

Sociology on the Menu is an accessible introduction to the sociology of food. Highlighting the social and cultural dimensions of the human food system, from production to consumption, it encourages us to consider new ways of thinking about the apparently mundane, everyday act of eating. The main areas covered include: * The origins of human subsistence and the development of the modern food system * Food, the family and eating out * Diet, health and the body image * The meanings of meat and vegetarianism. Sociology on the Menu provides a comprehensive overview of the literature, particularly helpful in this interdisciplinary field. It focuses on key texts and studies to help students identify major concerns and themes for further study. It urges us to re-appraise the taken for granted and familiar experiences of selecting, preparing and sharing food and to see our own habits and choices, preferences and aversions in their broader cultural context.

An art expert takes a critical look at restaurant menus—from style and layout to content, pricing and more—to reveal the hidden influence of menu design. We’ve all ordered from a restaurant menu. But have you ever wondered to what extent the menu is ordering you? In May We Suggest, art historian and gastronome Alison Pearlman focuses her discerning eye on the humble menu to reveal a captivating tale of persuasion and profit. Studying restaurant menus through the lenses of art history, experience design and behavioral economics, Pearlman reveals how they are intended to influence our dining experiences and choices. Then she goes on a mission to find out if, when, and how a menu might sway her decisions at more than sixty restaurants across the greater Los Angeles area. What emerges is a captivating, thought-provoking study of one of the most often read but rarely analyzed narrative works around.

George’s prize-winning Raspberry Chiffon Cake has earned her, Bess, and Nancy a week at the Wolfe Culinary Institute in upstate New York. But soon after their arrival, Nancy discovers that ambition, jealousy, and greed are also on the menu. Attempted murder provides plenty of food for thought, but that’s a mere appetizer to the dangers to come. In her search for the chef with a taste for terror, Nancy knows she’ll have to watch her diet and watch her back. The kitchen is crammed with suspects, and tensions are fast coming to a boil. The knives are all sharp, the ingredients are all poison, and the final course—most likely fatal—has yet to be served!

The American kitchen needs another cookbook like it needs a grease fire. But this isn't any old cookbook and its recipes aren't confined to the kitchen. It's a sensual self help manual: a wanton mash up of hundreds of aphrodisiacal meals, wine pairings, cocktails, poetry, erotic soundtrack suggestions, and even edible massage oils and shaving cream concoctions. Consider it a full service erotic event planner. A romantic evening baked at 375 with all the trimmings.

‘A sparklingly delicious confection to satisfy the mystery reader’s appetite’ Helena Dixon, bestselling author of the Miss Underhay Mysteries

Fascinating and entertaining, the menu, as a record of the food we eat, tells us much about who we were and how we lived. From the historically significant to the unexpected, discover what was eaten at the first Nobel Prize dinner; what Barack Obama chose for his inauguration meal; what the Tsar and Tsarina ate at their infamous society balls; why the first pre-made sandwich was so significant; and what sort of inflight grub was served up at supersonic speeds on Concorde. Step in time to dinner dances at the Blackpool Tower Ballroom; delight in Elvis and Priscilla's wedding breakfast; marvel at the Titanic's last sitting and raise a glass to El Bulli's closing service.

Blessed with a high emotional IQ, Phinn Reed enters the world with the promise of finding his soul mate. With heaven's memories erased, his romantic quest teaches him that the heart often sees clearer than the eyes-and that not everyone has ordered the same items from The Menu. This inspirational love story is heartfelt evidence that love stories come in many different forms.

Until 30 years ago, restaurateurs were considered the most important figures in any restaurant's success, with chefs consigned to the kitchen. This process began to change with the elevation of chef-patron Paul Bocuse in the late 1970s, and has continued with the rise of the celebrity chef. Restaurateurs are hugely important but rarely written about and significantly under-appreciated. The profession, other than its commercial and social aspects, has a fundamental human appeal: restaurateurs derive their name and profession from the French verb restaurer when their role was to restore the health of travellers battered by the potholes of French roads in the early 19th century. The role has changed a lot since then, and continues to evolve in fascinating ways."