Above, we have the menu for an 1899 Thanksgiving dinner at the Plaza Hotel in New York. If you were a turkey, you had it relatively easy. But the ducks? Not so much. On the menu, you’ll find Mallard duck and Ruddy duck. But also Red-head duck, Long Island duckling, Teal duck and Canvas-back duck, too. A duck in NYC was not a good place to be.
And, oh, those prices! Not one item above a dollar. But let’s account for inflation, shall we? In 2021, one Redditor noted: “I found a calculator and it turns out that $.30 in 1899 equals $10.00 now. The Fried oyster crabs would be $24.99 now and a Philadelphia chicken would be $66.65. So, the cheapest thing on the menu is Sweet buttermilk for $.10, but today would be $3.33.”
For our U.S. readers, enjoy your holiday tomorrow…
Related Content
A Relaxing, ASMR Re-Creation of People Cooking Thanksgiving Dinner in the 1820s
Marilyn Monroe’s Handwritten Turkey-and-Stuffing Recipe
Read 900+ Thanksgiving Books Free at the Internet Archive
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 13 Tips for What to Do with Your Leftover Thanksgiving Turkey
Bob Dylan’s Thanksgiving Radio Show: A Playlist of 18 Delectable Songs
Several items above a dollar, they just didn’t use decimal points. The most expensive item was the canvas back duck, at $3.50, followed by the roast Philadelphia chicken at $2.00. A couple of other dishes come in at $1.75. What a selection, though!
I was curious about “reed-birds”. Found an article, which I can’t seem to post here as a link without running afoul of your spamcatcher. It’s easily found in a search: it’s at theamericanmenu dot com, called “The Reed Birds-of San Francisco” Apparently “reed birds” was a catch-all term for pretty much whatever small birds were available in abundance.
This was very interesting I want to see more of this content thank you very much.
Agreed there are quite a few things that start at 3:50 and go down to a dollar itself somebody didn’t read the actual menu before they wrote the article
Very interesting menu.
I enjoy reading about the way people
ate in the past. Congratulations to the chefs of that day. Keep articles like this one coming. You have an audience for this!
And bananas cost the same today.
The author must feel like a retard. How ignorant!
I love stuff like this. Keep them coming please