Paper Short Abstract:

This paper explores Kenyan restaurant menus as textual tools of trust, showcasing chefs' craft, and mastery beyond immediate food availability. Based on ethnographic research, it contrasts Western and Kenyan menu approaches, explaining the role of menus in expressing intangible knowledge.

Paper Abstract:

Menus are often the first point of contact between customers and a restaurant, serving as more than just a list of offerings. They evoke gastronomic landscapes, anticipate the uniqueness of the dining experience, and shape customer expectations by eliciting emotions.

In Western contexts, menus typically feature concise lists of readily available dishes, designed to focus consumer attention on items that can be quickly delivered with minimal disappointment. However, this is just one approach to menu presentation. This paper examines the composition and role of menus in Kenyan restaurants, where menus are often extensive, offering a wide array of choices that reflect the chef's expertise rather than immediate product availability.

Customers navigate these voluminous lists not for instant gratification but with the reassurance that the restaurant can fulfill their desires, given time and patience. In this context, menus act as a textual and visual manifestation of culinary mastery, fostering trust over immediate desire and accommodating a multicultural, multi-gastronomic reality.

Based on ethnographic research conducted between 2018 and 2023 in Nakuru and Nairobi, this study builds on previous analyses by Fontefrancesco and Zocchi (2020) and Zocchi and Fontefrancesco (2020), offering new insights into how culinary craft is mediated through menus to navigate complex dining environments.