sca-cooks Hello to all

[Charles Dean]

Aldyth wrote:
> It is fun to see what other people consider minimum for a feast budget.  I
> try to do the $3.00 a head thing for most of my feasts.  Most of the time, I
> can come out ahead.  However pricing the feast at between $6 and $8 allows
> for the profit to be made.  When you add it to the site fee, the usual site
> and feast fee is between $10 and $12.

The feast we ran in February was budgeted at $5/person.  Our own
shopping (over-buying a couple of ingredients) came in a little under
that, but I think after the Viceroy bought thirty loaves of bread and
somebody else bought something last-minute on the day of the event, the
total was a hair over $5.

I wonder how much relationship there is between site fees and feast
fees.  Here in Ostgardr, site fees tend to be expensive, and I think
feasts are budgeted $5-8/person (although we charge a bit more than
that to make a profit for the Province).  In Calafia, Caid, most of our
sites were free (public parks) and we seldom served feasts at all; I
don't remember how much they cost when we did, although I organized a
two-or-three-course luncheon that my College served to the visiting
nobles at a local event, costing the College something like $2/person.
One of the most impressive feasts I've seen was served (in a free site)
for a Midrealm Cooks' Collegium by Madeleine des Milles Roses; she was
accustomed to working with under $5/person, but for this occasion she
splurged to $8.

I'm a big believer in buying produce in season: not only does it save
money, but it gives a more period effect.  A medieval feast would not
have had fresh asparagus and fresh apples at the same dinner.  A good
reference for produce seasons is _The Goldbecks' Guide to Good Food_,
a revised and expanded version of their classic _Supermarket Handbook_.

					mar-Joshua ibn-Eleazar ha-Shalib
                                                 Stephen Bloch
                                           sbloch at panther.adelphi.edu
					 http://www.adelphi.edu/~sbloch/
                                        Math/CS Dept, Adelphi University