À la carte! The secrets of the menu
A Touriseum special exhibition in the historic rooms of Trauttmansdorff Castle
31/03/2011
Special exhibition
South Tyrol Museum of Tourism
31.03.2010-15.11.2011
Using 682 exhibits as a basis, the Touriseum presented the menu as a political advertising medium, a visiting card for landlords, a witness of the past and as a culinary catwalk.
When did spaghetti arrive in Tyrol, and what about French fries? What are "poulardes"? What was on the menu of the banquet prepared for the German Kaiser Wilhelm in the Meranerhof Hotel in January 1914? The Touriseum attempts to answer these questions with its special exhibition "À la carte! The secrets of the menu".
The menus on display are not just intended to tickle visitors' taste buds on account of the wonderful dishes on offer on the complex aesthetic productions: they are also meant to get people to interpret them from unusual angles.
Menus also give us a cultural history in its purest form, telling us about the country, its eating and celebratory customs, its habits, events, pleasures and, not least, acting as a form of business card for the hotels and the country.
