Abstract
MenuData is a PhD project that writes a large-scale social and cultural history of eating and drinking out in Sweden; the first of its kind world-wide. It does so by developing and applying AI-driven document analysis to two vast menu collections: c. 11,000 legal-deposit menus preserved at the National Library of Sweden, and c. 8,000 menus preserved by the Swedish Gastronomic Academy. The method structures empirical evidence on dishes, drink categories, prices and menu architecture into a database of Swedish historical restaurant offerings, and applies historical analysis focussing to trace how norms, values and power relations were articulated at the restaurant table from 1840 to 2000. The historical analyses foreground consumer “taste,” food sociability and the cultures of service, while situating shifts in alcohol offerings and meal structures within changing regulatory regimes and the political economy of food and drink—temperance pressures, rationing, taxation, and evolving urban markets. By October 2026 the project will be roughly one year underway. The paper presents its first empirical findings, which at the time will be queued for publication in the 67th Gastronomisk kalender (“Gastronomic Calendar”) in November 2026. These findings will comprise empirically based historical trends in price levels and category prominence, regional and urban–rural contrasts, and the restaurant’s role in mediating controversies around public alcohol consumption, modernisation and consumer culture. Emphasising restaurant history over method, the presentation demonstrates how menus—often overlooked “everyday print”—offer a scalable, comparative foundation for studying historical food prices, dietary systems, regionalisation and table cultures within Swedish restaurant culture.
Presenters
Robert AspenskogDoctoral Student, Department of Cultural Sciences, Linnaeus University, Kronobergs län, Sweden
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Sweden, Restaurant History, Restaurant Menus, Public Dining, Food Politics
