The 8th Congrès International des Orientalistes was held in Stockholm in 1889, at the initiative of the Swedish orientalist Carlo Landberg. For the Gala Dinner on 7 September 1889, a very special menu was prepared, showcasing not just food, but languages and scripts too.... 1/
Every item on the elaborate menu has its own beautifully lithographed page, each with a short piece or poetry or prose celebrating the dish - and each in a different language and script.
To start: Potage a la Suédoise, in Chinese. 2/
To start: Potage a la Suédoise, in Chinese. 2/
Rissoles a la Russe, in Ge'ez.
Saumon a l'Impériale, in Sanskrit. 3/
Saumon a l'Impériale, in Sanskrit. 3/
Filet de Bœuf a la Parisienne in Malay.
Chaud-Froid de Suprême de Volaille a la Périgord, in Syriac. 4/
Chaud-Froid de Suprême de Volaille a la Périgord, in Syriac. 4/
Pâté de Foie Gras, in Manchu.
Jeune Coq, in Javanese. 5/
Jeune Coq, in Javanese. 5/
Salade, in Akkadian Cuneiform. 6/
Salade, in Akkadian Cuneiform - the translation. 7/
Artichauts au Beurre, in Coptic. 8/
Gâteau a la Victoria, in Hieroglyphics.
Glace, in Sabean script. 9/
Glace, in Sabean script. 9/
Fruits Divers, in Chagatai. 10/
...and with the Vin de Bordeaux, "Langue de Babel" - Cuneiform again. 11/
I just found out (thanks to the ever helpful @edwardW2) that there's an excellent previous thread about this same polylinguistic 1889 menu, based on the digitized Google Books version, by the brilliant @schrift_sprache:
The thread above is not a complete list of the dishes, or the languages. Also included are, interalia, Hebrew, Classical Arabic, Ottoman, Persian and Japanese. 12/
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