ANST - Stargate Steak Feast

[AuroraeB at aol.com]

In a message dated 98-09-08 02:55:05 EDT, you write:

<< i've been to *many* feasts, and to be quite honest, i would much rather 
 have a decent steak than some of the culinary disasters that i've sampled 
 (everyone praises the successful feasts, but what about the infamous 
 disasters (g) >>

I second that........

But, I just want to know why a steak as we know it would not be "period"?
Because we do not have written and pictorial documentation of it?  Isn't that
quite harsh standards to judge what was "done" then....  Didn't they have the
cattle, and ate them?  Didn't they have cutlery sharp enough to cut a steak?
And, didn't they have the cooking implements necesary for perparation?

Maybe not......  I do not have a Laurel in period cookery.  Heck, I only own
one period cookbook, and have no clue as to where it is right now.....  Maybe
nobody in the entire realm of time and location that the SCA covers never
thought to cook a slice of beef over an open flame in a manner remotely akin
to what we call "grilling a steak"?

There are 2 schools of thought as to what is "period".  Those who believe it
is only "period" if there is a primary source material that can be backed up
by several secondary and tertiary source materials,  that depict in both
pictorial or verbal manner, an EXACT depiction of the object or technique they
wish to re-create.  AND, there are those who believe that if they had the
tools, had the materials, then it is a possibility that somebody in period
times came up with the same idea.....

I am the latter.  I will look at the tools, techniques, and materials
available at the place/time, and draw my own conclusions on what was possible
in "period".  I simply cannot think in such a closed manner that only those
things documentable actually existed.  I am an interpretive/creative person by
nature, and that manner of looking at things is foreign to me.  My brain
prefers to look at a situation and see the possibilities, not seek out the
facts and "proof" behind it.

It is just the way we look at the World.  In the SCA, we have Historians, and
Artists.  Sometimes the 2 ways of thinking collide big time.  Most of the time
they co-exist somewhat tensely.  The Historians think the Artists don't take
it seriously enough, the Artists wish the Historians would lighten up......
It is that way no matter if it is over a dance, a dinner, or a suit of garb.  

And, I don't ever see that changing.....

Tracy


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