There's a real art to that. It's like putting a picture of the food on the menu. Chris Mumford of Mumford's uses two-tiered menu language. Italian and French menus pose a separate problem. Stavrakis tells owners of Italian and French restaurants to use foreign names on their menus, but also to describe each item in English.
Some menus even offer details such as the origin of an ingredient.
Restaurateurs agree that they find this type of information helpful. Back in the '70s or '80s, you'd use a lot more adjectives in your menu. But the precise descriptions are not just on the menu for vanity, according McVety. They are there for health reasons, much in the same way that product labels list all ingredients and nutritional information. Consumers need to know what ingredients are in a dish in case they have food allergies.