Menu del dia: The 14.70 euro price tag on a fading Spanish tradition

Restaurants across Spain still post their daily menus on chalkboards and paper sheets just before noon, but the customers arriving to buy them are fewer than they were decades ago. The menu del dia, a fixed-price meal that has anchored the Spanish workday for over half a century, now carries an average price of 14.70 euros. While about four million of these meals are still served on any given weekday, the habit is eroding under pressure from rising costs and changing lifestyles.

The tradition has deep roots in tourism policy. It was introduced in the mid-1960s by Manuel Fraga, the information and tourism minister under dictator Francisco Franco. After the years of hunger following the civil war, the government wanted to show foreign visitors that food was plentiful and affordable. Laws required restaurants to serve a soup starter, a main dish of egg, fish, or meat with a side, and a dessert. Prices were capped between 50 and 250 pesetas, and the included wine had to be a pure Spanish red or white with at least 12% alcohol. By the early 1970s, the name shifted to menu del dia to encourage locals to dine out, not just tourists.

Lakshmi Aguirre, a Spanish food journalist, explores this history in her new book, Menu del dia: Everyday Scenes of a First Course, a Second Course and Pudding. She argues the tradition is in trouble but not dead. Aguirre notes that many Spaniards are shocked to learn the menu was a political tool for tourists. "It says a lot about us Spaniards; we forget very quickly," she said. She sees the menu as a mirror of society, noting that nostalgia is growing as people realize the ritual is fading.

Economic forces are reshaping the offering. Rising energy and food costs make it difficult for small, family-run restaurants to maintain a rotating daily selection. Some have switched to a single dish of the day, while others have added Latin American staples to reflect changing demographics. Many workers, short on time, now bring food from home or heat up supermarket meals instead of sitting down for a full lunch. Ferran Adria, a renowned chef, declared the menu dead in 2009, blaming economic downturns and the rise of bistro-style restaurants that charge 20 to 30 euros for similar meals. Seventeen years later, the tradition persists, albeit with fewer diners.

Aguirre describes the menu as a crucial social space. "What's being lost is a meeting point," she said, explaining that it provides a place for families on limited budgets to eat out and for people living alone to find company. She values the time it allows for a proper meal. For Aguirre, a good venue serves simple dishes like vegetable stew or hake in green sauce. She looks for a chalkboard free of trendy words like avocado or truffle, and bonus points are awarded if the owners' child is doing homework at a table in the back.