These 1900s-Era Menus from Detroit Will Make You Wonder Just What Michiganders Were Eating

You don't think much of rolling around a drive-thru and glancing down a menu board or pulling up behind a booth of your favorite restaurant and scanning the menu. But these historic menus from around 1900 at locations across Michigan will have you rethinking your culinary heritage.

The New York Public Library has digitized thousands of menus from the turn of the previous century in Buttolph Collection of Menus stretching from the 1800s through 1980. Checking out the menus, you'll learn that it's less about a restaurant's standard fare and more about what was prepared for a special occasion.

Many of the items are from Detroit and the city's historic hotels like the Russell House and Pontchartrain. The Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island is represented as well as both Kellogg-run Santariam and Post Tavern in Battle Creek.

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Take a look at these and it may just make you rethink the next time you dine out.

Look out for some really strange food offerings like wine jelly, Roman punch, milk toast, fried mush, squab, tomato mayonnaise and tongue.

What is squab? You're better off not knowing, but the answer is below.

Want to consider some fare that's a little more familiar? Take a look back at these lost but certainly not forgotten McDonald's menu items:

Don't let your culinary explorations end, check out these Michigan restaurants that have been featured on the Food Network: