SC - re: pre-1500 cookery (turns into rant;

[kat]

>Date: Thu, 18 Dec 1997 11:30:28 -0500 (EST)
>From: rebecca tants <becca at servtech.com>
>Subject: SC - Problems of Thought....
>
>OK - Forgive a bit of "how things work around here" griping...
>
>Last night I had dinner with a group of friends, amongst whom was
>their Majesties of AEthelmearc (who I've known for years).  It was a
>casual, non-sca dinner, but her Majesty was telling me about a Christmas
>party she was at over the weekend with some other SCA people.  Now, she
>is a really big proponent of somewhat subtly pushing people she knows are
>doing good work to the people who have already been recognized in that
>area, so in conversation with a Cooking Laurel she pointed out that I
>had told her that Cheddar wasn't period.  The Laurel's response was
>*shrug* "People like it."  Her Majesty pushed a little bit, with something
>like "True, but she chose to serve other cheeses at a feast and to
>explain why when asked", to which the Laurel again replied, "Yes, but
>people like it".  One more try yielded the same type of response.
><,snip>>
>Ruadh

Ruadh, I'll take this one, bearing in mind that I have no large "cookies" of
my own, so to speak (Ras, don't you dare mention a word about my cookies!!!).

I think that your opinion is highly justified, however in this forum you
won't find too many folks who fall into that category. Sure, some laurels
abandon their chosen art. Perhaps they have progressed as far as they wish
in that particular field, or life throws them a curve ball and they have to
adjust. However, by and large the folks who lurk here have an abiding love
for our art form that transcends "cookies". After all, one can learn to
paint like Leonardo da Vinci by studying his brush strokes, shadow and
lighting techniques, his painting composition, and by analysing his
pigments, and by looking at the works of himself and his students. One
cannot, however, say that one has learned to cook like Taillevant simply by
studying his recipes.  We have no surviving example of the end product. That
single factor is what makes OUR art-form in the SCA so vastly superior
(IMHO). Everyone's interpretation has some validity to it provided it was
given minimal attention. It takes a sort of intelligence you can't find
elsewhere to do what we successful cooks do....interpretation, sensual
experiment, mathematics, physics, color experimentation, personal bias,
historical accuracy, public response, a keen palate, and good educated
guesses all play a huge roll in our art as we practice it. But it also takes
vision. Long-reaching, past imagination for the past, combined with a
visualization of the desired end product are a big part of it. So, I am sad
to see someone leave the kitchen for other pastures. They have obviously
lost their way. HRM Caryl is quite persuasive, so the person under
discussion must be very lost indeed---or else was just having a bad day.

On the other hand, I know a Cookie-holder who developed diabetes, and whose
Laurel was for confectionary work. Those sorts of things are hard to reconcile.

FWIW, my 2 cents

Aoife  

============================================================================

To be removed from the SCA-Cooks mailing list, please send a message to
Majordomo at Ansteorra.ORG with the message body of "unsubscribe SCA-Cooks".

============================================================================