Lists of prepared foods, which work as menus, date back to the Song dynasty in China, when merchants in large cities catered to busy customers. The word menu is French and comes from the Latin minutus, meaning made small, because in French it came to mean a detailed list of any kind. The original choices were written on a small chalkboard, called a carte in French, which is why food chosen from a list is described as à la carte. The earliest European menus survive from 1751 and were made for intimate suppers given by King Louis XV at the Château de Choisy. Menus spread to restaurants in the late 18th century, especially after the French Revolution of 1789.

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.