Would you like to see a menu? The Australian War Memorial's Souvenir Menus Collection

Menus reflect social customs and form a part of our culture. During periods of conflict, these customs are extended into the military experience, giving serving personnel a welcome reminder of home. The Memorial’s National Collection includes some 1300 examples of menus. Coming to the Memorial from numerous donors over many years, these menus represent the culinary experiences of the Australian military forces from the early 1900s through to the present.

Menus are familiar to most people. You regularly see them at a café or restaurant, or at special events, such as weddings. This was not always so. The modern concept of the menu came about in the 1830s, with the advent of the restaurant and hotel, and in particular, from the 1860s, with the practice of service a la Russe – serving courses with alternative offerings.

The Memorial’s collection of menus can offer useful insights into social as well as military history, revealing trends in the dining habits of service personnel. For example, what, if any, differences in can be gleaned from menus presented to officers and enlistees? Were there differences in menus presented during war and peace? How did this differ over time and conflict; what was available for dining and where?

Menus can offer insight into changing fashions in cuisine, including the content and quantities of meals. Menus allowed personnel to inject humour into their stressful and sometimes monotonous daily activities. Making fun of the food received in military life is a common theme.

Menus also offer information on various designs over time: what groups of people made menus and how did their physical appearances differ? While many examples in the Memorial’s collection were printed, many were hand-drawn and colourfully illustrated.

Some menus were commercial in nature, particularly those used on commercial ocean liners which transported troops, which offered an air of continuity with ships’ menus.

For serving personnel, menus were typically made for a particular occasion – a memento of a Christmas service “somewhere in the field” or “in France”, for example. These mementoes signified their experience and became a record of the event. For small occasions, or in the case of menus made by smaller units, it is fortunate that they were treasured enough to be retained for posterity.

The Memorial has digitised its menus from the Souvenirs 26 Menus Collection, which are now available on the Memorial’s website.