Every food on the Victorian table gets its history, its etymology and a strong opinion — the wittiest cookery book of 1877, written in secret by a Times leader-writer and named for London's most fashionable restaurant.

The Menu Decoder

The book was written for exactly this predicament: a London diner squinting at French. Pick a term or type one, and Kettner’s explains it — with the history thrown in.

The decoder needs JavaScript — the entries themselves are all in the A–Z.

Rights & ReuseThe complete text of Kettner’s Book of the Table (1877) is in the public domain in the United States — like all works published before 1928 — and is free to read, download, quote, teach from, and reuse. This digital edition (its transcription, restored images, and site design) is © 2026 PhotoOpAI, and any editorial commentary we add is clearly marked as ours; the underlying public-domain text carries no such restriction.