> On a restaurant menu, which phrase suggests you can order something separately,instead of as part of an entire meal?And the answer: A la carte.A la carte is a French phrase, literally translating to "by the card." Certainitems on a restaurant menu may be offered a la carte – for example, you mightorder toast or bacon by itself, instead of an entire breakfast meal.Photo credit: Restaurant-ingthroughhistory.com[https://restaurant-ingthroughhistory.com/tag/menu-terms/]Although it's hard topicture a reality without them, using menus is a practice that's taken on manydifferent forms over the centuries of their use. The first people to use menusin their more modern iteration (meaning, not on ancient Sumerian stone slabs)were the Chinese. During the Song Dynasty around 1100 CE, the first businessresembling modern restaurants appeared in urban centers. Unlike inns, whichserved whatever food was prepared that day, these restaurants presented patronswith a list of items to choose from. According to records from this time, therewere over 600 items to choose from in tea shops, restaurants, and other eatingestablishments across cities such as Hangzhou. Meanwhile, in Europe, fine dining establishments and public restaurants did notexist until the late 1700s. Instead, the only way to "eat out" was at a tavernor inn, where everyone received the same meal. Yet it is France that we have tothank for much of our modern day conceptualization of menus, including the worditself! Derived from the Latin word minutus, the word "menu" was first used todescribe anything small and detailed. Originally, any brief list of informationwas considered to be a menu. It wasn't until the rise of restaurants in early19th century France that the word took on a new meaning. In the 1830s, Delmonico's became New York City's first establishment to givediners the option to order individual items off of a menu. French wordsdecorated the menu, many of which (such as a la carte) remain today.Learn more about the history of menus here[http://digital.library.unlv.edu/collections/menus/history-restaurant-menus].