Foreign restaurants (including many Chinese restaurants abroad) generally have only a lot of words on the menu, while domestic restaurants (except some high-end western food) feel that it is absolutely unacceptable to have no pictures. According to my observation, there are three main reasons for this difference:
1) The cultivation of existing cultural habits means that no one maps, so I simply don't map, or everyone maps, so I want a map;
2) There are different understandings about the difference between pictures and real dishes. Westerners think that if the dishes on the table don't match the pictures, China people think that the more beautiful the pictures are, the better, and the objects are as unimportant as the pictures.
3) Chefs in foreign (mature market) restaurants advocate seasonal ingredients and creativity, so the menu changes more frequently than in domestic restaurants, and it is more convenient to update the text menu later.
Of course, according to my observation, restaurants at home and abroad tend to merge and learn from each other on menu issues.
In China, there are pictures on the menu. This advantage is too critical and unique. I'm used to it in China. It seems nothing special, right? However, why do China people insist on rushing to eat Chinese restaurants when traveling abroad? Let's enjoy the menu style of Italian restaurants: like this.
This is the tip of the iceberg. The elusive menu of Europeans is full of proper nouns of various ingredients, just to tell you the name of this dish and the main ingredients in it. Almost all restaurants in European countries are so beautiful.
As a result, when you ordered it, you had no idea what kind of ghost this little cute might be. It may really be a dark dish that you have never seen and will never see again.
"Meizita Pepper Beef with Kidney Bean" is a dish name randomly selected from the Italian menu. Regardless of whether it will be delicious, I will ask you if you dare to taste it on the menu.
On the other hand, the menu of my big China restaurant:
Although shabby, seemingly inconspicuous, but in a foreign country, looking at all kinds of intimate pictures, whether or not to eat, ordering a few WYSIWYG dishes, will there be a feeling of tears?
In China, you can order food with pictures every time you go out to eat. Great benefits!