By 1949, when this menu was issued, the wartime restrictions found on the 1944 menu should have ended. Though this is only a lunch menu, it is still a little surprising that it doesn’t offer any steaks or chops. Other than bacon and cold meats, there are no red meats on the a la carte menu and the only red meats on the table d’hôte insert are beefsteak pie and roast leg of veal.

Click image to download a 1.5-MB PDF of this menu.

Edward Cornwallis, whose statue is on the cover of this menu, was an officer in the British army who was named governor of Nova Scotia at the age of 37. When members of the Mi’kmaq tribe opposed the establishment of Halifax, Cornwallis offered settlers a bounty on Mi’kmaq scalps.

This has made his name controversial today. Halifax removed the statue shown on the cover in 2018. It also renamed schools, streets, and other sites that had been named in his honor. In his defense, the Indians he was fighting were siding with the French in one of the many conflicts between Britain and France over the future of Canada, so his scalping order had more of a military basis than a racist one (and only a few bounties were ever paid anyway). Cornwallis’ real problem is that he was an inept officer; though he reached the rank of Lieutenant General, he failed in many of the missions he was given and only avoided punishment by having many friends in high places.