Investigate the use of language in menus.

Janki Tanna

‘Menu Pollution’

Introduction

The most recently published edition of the Good Pub Guide (2003 edition) stated that, “many pubs are over-hyping menus to disguise ordinary food.” Many newspapers, including the Evening Standard and The Daily Mail, reflected on this issue. (See Appendix I.) The articles stated that ‘menu pollution’ was causing ordinary food e.g., fish fingers, to be described as, ‘Scottish salmon digits heavenly dusted in cracked black peppercorns and pan flashed before being napped with a cream glacé built up with a dash of brandy, a touch of mustard and a scattering of green peppercorns.’

The Evening Standard restaurant critic suggested that fanciful descriptions, which he labelled, “menu pollution”, are inspired by popular cooking shows on television such as “Ready Steady Cook”, in which food is appreciated not for its taste but for its adherence to fashion. Chefs employ this technique in order to capture the interest of the reader. In many ways food is used to show off wealth and social position. A carefully planned menu can initially advertise food, hence boosting the readers ego and more importantly attracting the customer to the cuisine.

The use of expression in menus was under scrutiny, as critics feared that chefs spent more time meticulously writing their menus than attending to the preparation of the food itself. Furthermore, many people suggested that writing overly pretentious menus clouded the meanings of descriptions, causing many people to be unaware of what they were actually ordering. ‘Alisdair Aird, the guide’s editor, praised some chefs for setting higher sta ndards in pub cooking but warned: “Others are putting all their imagination and flights of fancy into the menu instead of the food itself.”’ The danger of over-hyping menus, with shameful and embarrassing claims made for really quite simple dishes, will in turn work against the chef, as customers will be disappointed.

Aim

I am going to investigate the use of language in menus, by researching and comparing menus of different pubs: J.D.Wetherspoon, a pub in a middle class area, E11 and The New Globe, which is situated in a lower class area, E3 (Appendix II).

I will find out whether the descriptions used in the menu are ‘over-hyped’ as The Good Pub Guide discovered. I will then investigate the success of the menus in comparison to each other and the reason why e.g., due to the use and quality of adjectives.

Hypothesis

I expect that the overall results will be similar to the findings by The Good Pub Guide of over-hyped descriptions. This technique will be used, as pubs will be trying to set high expectations of their cuisine and sell their dishes to the customers. Furthermore, I expect that the lexical choice of the menu will attempt to use techniques such as onomatopoeia in order to attract readers to the food. In addition I expect that both pubs will use adjectives to describe their dishes but menu A will use a higher percentage of adjectives.

Methodology

The articles describing ‘menu pollution’ were both pessimistic about the use of vocabulary and description in pub menus. Neither article praised the imagination used in the language of the menus. In addition, neither article suggested whether the description in the menus had a positive influence on the popularity of the dishes. Furthermore, the articles did not compare menus of different regions or different types of restaurant. Therefore, the views reached by the authors of these articles may be flawed. I considered various possibilities for my investigation including comparing two menus from different times (to investigate language change.) in addition, I considered furthering the investigation by comparing a restaurant menu to a pub menu. This would establish how language is used to sell different products (in this case food.) I decided to investigate the differences in menu style when comparing a pub that it situated in an upper middle class area and a pub in a lower middle class area. Hence this research would show how language is used to advertise, persuade and sell to different target audiences. Due to the flaws in the investigation by The Good Pub Guide, I decided to use a questionnaire in order to obtain results of how effective the menus are to there readers. Furthermore, I will analyse the menus to see what lexical techniques are used. Hence, in my investigation I have decided to use a questionnaire in order to obtain results of how effective the menus are to their readers.

This is a preview of the whole essay

I will draft a questionnaire to be used at both restaurants (Appendix III). From the responses to these questionnaires, I will have an indication of how successful the descriptions are in both menus. The questionnaire consists Initially of, questions to establish the age and sex of the customer, secondly questions about whether the customer has dined at the restaurant before. All these questions will indicate the background of the customers dining at each establishment. It will also determine what percentages of ‘regulars’ (at each pub) were questioned. As these factors may affect the results for example, customers may feel loyalty to the establishment that are dining in, hence answering the questions with bias. Thirdly the questions will include, various questions about the customer’s likes/dislikes In relation to the type/description of the menu. The section in the questionnaire, which investigates the descriptions in menus, has questions, which are repeated but phrased in different ways, in order to ensure that the customer is not answering the questions just to impress, for example,

‘ I do not like menus with a hard sell.’ Compared to

‘ A menu should just tell the diner what is on offer.’ Hence, the questionnaire will provide a more reliable idea of preferences in choice and type of menu.

The questionnaire will be distributed at both pubs. In order to attain conclusive and fair results, fifteen copies will be given to customers at each pub: both customers who are dining and who are only drinking. This technique will be used in order to emphasise the fact that the language in menus is being tested, rather than the food of the establishment being evaluated.

Description of data

Menu A,‘ J.D.Wetherspoon’ is graphologically impressive. The menu comes in the form of a booklet, which is in a laminate and cloth covering. Photographs of dishes in colour appear at the top of each page. The typography appears in different fonts and bolded lettering. The use of the above features reflects the customer that the establishment expects i.e. a middle class clientele. It has been produced for a chain of 600 public houses. The menu appeals to a wide age group, which is apparent by the range of cuisine on offer. E.g., a separate kid’s menu is also served. Menu B is an A4 sheet folded into a booklet, which has been laminated. A different font is used for headings. Overall, menu B is quite plain and inexpensive to produce.

Results

Section I

Section II

J.D.Wetherspoon

The New Globe

Section III

Analysing the data

Menu A (J.D. Wetherspoon) is a ‘glamorous’ looking menu and in contrast menu B (The New Globe) is of a simpler style. In both menus there is a high use of adjectives there is a much higher usage in menu A E.g., ‘rich’ and ‘garnished.’ Although adjectives such as ‘tender’ are used in menu B, over 45% more adjectives are used in menu A. This result suggests that menu A uses a more elaborate lexical style than menu B. The style adapted in both menus is used in order to attract and persuade its target audience/customers to try/eat the cuisine. The style used in menu B reflects the target audience, which the pub expects (good plain food which is not messed about).

Onomatopoeia is used in both menus; in menu A this technique is limited to the adjective ‘crispy’ whereas in menu B various adjectives are present including, ‘swirls’ and ‘spicy.’ Onomatopoeia occurs when the sound of a word echoes its meaning. For example, ‘crispy’ is echoic and attracts the customers towards buying that particular dish.

Menu A uses symbols such as V and N representing vegetarian and food without nuts respectively. This feature is not present in menu B. The advantage of using these features is that customers who are vegetarian or have nut allergies can easily view dishes applicable to them. In contrast, for the same clientele-reading menu B these symbols do not exist.

Both menu styles are strongly contrasting to one another and hence subject to preferences by the customer. The questionnaire produced and distributed allows some insight into which menu is preferred. Overall, at both establishments the J.D.Wetherspoon menu (A) is preferred by just over 73% and descriptions from the same menu are preferred by 97%. The reasons for these results may be established by viewing the questions asked in the questionnaire along with their results.

At both pubs 67% of the clientele are 18-25 years old of which 53% are male and 47% females. At the J.D.Wetherspoon establishment 14 people had visited the pub before whereas at The New Globe 7 people had, a difference of twice the amount more at J.D.Wetherspoon.

Varied responses were received in section II of the questionnaire e.g., when asked to tick an answer for the following question,

‘If a restaurant takes care to produce an appealing menu with a great deal of detailed descriptions, it is more likely to make the effort to produce good food…’

73% of people at The New Globe strongly agreed or agreed and 87% of the people at the J.D.Wetherspoon pub gave the same response. However, when questioned with

‘I prefer good, plain food which is not messed about…’ 53% of the clientele at The New Globe disagreed whereas at the J.D.Wetherspoon pub the same percentage agreed with the statement. This result shows different expectations of the menu and cuisine by the customers of each establishment. As the above answer designates the view that people of The New Globe generally prefer good, plain food, do they also prefer a good, plain menu style? The answer to this question is hard to find, as many results suggest no E.g., when customers of The New Globe were confronted with the statement, ‘I like a menu which makes its dishes sound especially appealing…’ 87% of the customers agreed. In contrast to this result many of the responses suggest that customers of The New Globe do prefer a plain style of menu- e.g., 60% of their clientele either strongly agreed or agreed that they do not like menus with a hard sell. All these results show a contrast of views by the customers of The New Globe. The reasons these results were obtained may be examined by looking at the comments made in section IV which asks customers the reason for their menu preference. Many comments included:

‘It all appears on one page so you can quickly tell what you want to eat.’
‘Less pompous’
‘The New Globe menu uses simple and direct language which gives all necessary information.’

However, comments about preferences for the J.D.Wetherspoon included:

‘I am allergic to diary products therefore I need a detailed description of what a dish has in it- of which the J.D.Wetherspoon menu on the majority of dishes-tend to do.’

All these comments entwined together showed that the reason for preference was either dietary needs or a simpler style being preferred.

The J.D.Wetherspoon customers generally preferred detailed description of cuisine E.g., when asked which questions out of section III were preferred, most customers responded set I (taken from J.D.Wetherspoon.) In addition, all customers either strongly agreed or agreed that they ‘like to feel that a restaurant sets out to impress them and their guests.’ Hence, to the customers of the J.D.Wetherspoon pub if the menu initially impresses them, they will feel astounded and satisfied with the restaurant and its cuisine. This view may be proved by looking at the response to the following statement, ‘ A lively, enthusiastic, appetising menu with plenty of mouth-watering description makes me feel that the restaurant really values me…’ to which 93% of the customers either strongly agree or agree.

Remarks by the customers of the J.D.Wetherspoon pub included:

‘because I find it interesting, well produced, friendly and welcoming’
The J.D.Wetherspoon menu sells the food to me more it makes the dishes sound nice-even though it’s a chicken burger and chips. I like the pictures and detailed descriptions. The New Globe menu reminds me of a café menu, very basic and boring.’

Anomalies could have arisen as customers may have felt loyalty to the establishment in which they were dining.

A surprising result was that many customers of The New Globe actually preferred the J.D.Wetherspoon menu, due to dietary reasons-

For example, a customer of The New Globe commented that

‘Being vegetarian I prefer to know exactly what is going into what I am eating. I work with special needs students who collectively have a lot of allergies and they need to know if nuts etc are in anything’

In contrast, all the customers of the J.D.Wetherspoon pub preferred their ‘own’ pubs menu. A certain customer stated, ‘always associate Wetherspoons menus with choice and value.’

Many trends are apparent after analysis of the results of language in the menus. Customers of each pub show similar views to one another but the menus of each establishment are contrastingly different to one another. It is apparent that attempts have been made to write the menus according to their particular target audience. The J.D.Wetherspoon menu is more successful despite over-hyping many of its dishes.

Conclusion

The Good Pub Guide found that many pub chefs are following ‘the estate agents’ example of over-describing their food. The investigation aimed to find whether hyping food up in descriptions present in the menu made the dish or establishment more successful. Menu A (J.D.Wetherspoon) and menu B (The New Globe) are two contrastingly different menus. Menu A had a graphologically impressive layout whereas menu B was an A4 page booklet which has been laminated. The differences in menu production provided an initial indication of target audience. The aim of the investigation was to see which techniques were used in the lexis of the menu and why. A carefully chosen lexis was found, many adjectives were used and techniques such as onomatopoeia and alliteration were adapted to provide a lively and enthusiastic menu.

The hypothesis stated that the overall results were expected to be similar to that of the findings by The Good Pub Guide. Fifteen questionnaires given out at each establishment and analysis of the results showed that many overrated descriptions were present on menu A and simpler details were provided in menu B. the two different levels of description were responded to in similar ways in both pubs. Customers of both establishments generally preferred detailed descriptions of the pubs dishes (100% at both pubs.) In the J.D.Wetherspoon pub this result may have been due to loyalty formed between the regular customer and establishment. Only one person questioned had not visited the pub before, in contrast at The New Globe 8 people had not visited the establishment before. The preference of detailed descriptions was also due to dietary needs e.g., vegetarianism. For these reasons, 73% of all people questioned preferred the J.D.Wetherspoon menu, which gave lengthy and thorough explanations of most its dishes. When simpler descriptions were preferred, they were mainly by people who didn’t have any special dietary requirements.

The hypothesis was proved as many overrated descriptions, lexical techniques and high percentage of adjectives were found. The amount and usage of each of the above varied depending on the menu. All techniques were adapted in order to persuade and sell cuisine to the customers.

Evaluation

Many factors surrounding the investigation may have affected the results, including flaws during collecting data. The questionnaires distributed to customers of both pubs were handed out randomly, giving a variety of results as different genders and age groups were investigated which was an advantage. Despite this factor the overall view of language used in the menus and their preferences for each gender could not be analysed fairly. As a different amount of men/women were questioned.

The concluding data was based on a very small sample. Although fifteen people at each pub was representative of the customers, a larger sample would have provided more accurate results. Similarly the data responses of the J.D.Wetherspoon pub and The New Globe were taken as a representation of the upper middle class and lower middle class respectively. Taking this data as the overall data used in all menus for the similar classes is bias and unfair as there may be many pubs who have a lower middle class clientele but use a enlivening and intricate menu style. There may also be a pub, which generally attracts a higher middle class customer but uses a simpler menu style. In order, to avoid this flaw different/more pubs could have been investigated. If this were done anomalies would have been avoided although the results would be complex to analyse.

Throughout the analysis it was primarily assumed that the customers of the J.D.Wetherspoon pub were of an upper middle class. The ‘assumption’ used here, itself is unfair as no empirical evidence was formed/gained to prove this concept. The idea was based on word-of-mouth by each pub’s manager. Overall, the investigation was successful as it provided a variety of results from which a careful conclusion could be made and the hypothesis proved.

Attempts were made to gain an interview with Alisdair Aird, the editor ‘The Good Pub Guide’ although responses from him were not received. In addition attempts were made to interview the publisher of the J.D.Wetherspoon magazine in hope of finding what type of effects Egon Ronay and his team were aiming to achieve from their menus.

To further the research menus from different times could have been investigated, especially two menus of the same establishment. Hence, considering language change over time. An investigation in language used in restaurant menus may have been done in order to see if the same lexical techniques were used.

Language has great power. It can advertise, persuade and sell food. Menus are like mini-flyers ‘showing-off’ the best an establishment has to offer. Detailed care is taken when developing a menu. A menu works as a door or appetiser to the main dishes. After the menu has worked its magic the chefs hope that the food will take over. As Gail Greene, the American food critic stated, ‘great food is like great sex- the more you have, the more you want.’