Dynamically modifying/refreshing menu contents in PyGTK
self.filemenu = gtk.Menu()

self.init_file_menu()

self.fileitem = gtk.MenuItem("File")
self.fileitem.set_submenu(self.filemenu)
menubar = gtk.MenuBar()
menubar.append(self.fileitem)
outerframe.pack_start(menubar, False, False)

def init_file_menu(self):
    for widget in self.filemenu.get_children():
        self.filemenu.remove(widget)

    openitem = gtk.MenuItem("Open")
    self.filemenu.append(openitem)
    openitem.connect("activate", self.open_file)

    self.filemenu.append(gtk.SeparatorMenuItem())

    for recentitem in self.settings['recentfiles']:
        item = gtk.MenuItem(os.path.basename(recentitem))
        self.filemenu.append(item)
        item.connect("activate", self.open_file, recentitem)
    self.filemenu.show()