In a remarkable display of cultural preservation, the University of Toronto Scarborough (UTSC) library proudly houses the world’s largest collection of over 10,000 Chinese food menus and other Asian food artifacts. As part of the Asian Heritage Month Special Series, OMNI TV delve into these invaluable collections, gaining insights from an archivist and a food historian who shed light on the significance of this unique archive.
Dating back to 1898, there are unique items such as a fan-shaped menu from Puerto Rico and miniature dry pots from the 1980s. These creative artifacts have been collected by Harley Spiller, an archivist who has spent decades gathering them from around the world.
Although many menus lack provenance due to their age, they still hold significant value as a collection.
“Think about the take-out menus you have, you weren’t meant to keep that, but there are so much information and so much important history and beauty in these documents. These menus tell the story of how Chinese Canadians create a life in this country and create an intercultural community through food. We see these connections on the menu and we see these connections still forming today,” Koby Song-Nichols, a Ph.D. Candidate in History and Food Study from the University Of Toronto said.
The library also houses a significant collection of Chinese restaurant menus in Toronto, ranging from international cuisine in 1930 to Cantonese-style dim sum culture from the 1950s to the 1970s, and the fusion of flavors from the northern and southern regions. Each menu bears witness to the developmental history of Chinese cuisine in Toronto.
Experts hope that the public can gain an understanding of the changes in culinary culture through this collection while enhancing recognition and respect for Asian traditions.
The entire collection was included in the Guinness World Records in 2005. The University of Toronto Library has currently completed the electronic classification of all menus and made them available for public digital viewing.
