SC - Responsible use of Alcohol & the SCA

[Stephanie Rudin]

Aoife wrote:

>>This fact did not stop an
internationally known SCA Personage from writing a letter to the
Reservationist stating that she would not attend with her husband because
she had life threatening allergies, and couldn't risk eating food that
wasn't custom-cooked. She went on to state that she had cooked for up to
400, still accomodating for other's allergies. She then ended the letter
stating that she sent a copy of the letter of complaint to the King and
Queen, Prince and Princess of Aethelmearc , and Seneschals of both
Aethelmearc and the East. She Never, Ever contacted me, nor the Autocrat, my
husband. And yet, apparently she felt strongly enough to ensure that my SCA
future was impeded by her discomfiture.

(a) Is is really likely that she's managed to "ensure" that your future is 
impeded?  One can hope that the King Queen etc. etc. will recognize that 
even Internationally Known SCA Personages (tm) are capable of whining, and 
that that's what she was doing.

(b) If she truly has life-threatening allergies that require her food be 
custom cooked, she would be foolish to eat a feast cooked for a group, since 
even a conscientious cook can make a mistake (like stirring a pot with the 
wrong spoon) that could do her in.

(c) I am the proud (NOT) possessor of an increasingly severe allergic 
reaction to a Mystery Food Additive.  That is, something in restaurant food 
(never, to date, in a private home or at an SCA feast) interferes with my 
breathing.  (Set aside, for a moment, all discussions about what I should do 
to identify the MFA and so on.)  Cooking an SCA feast is volunteer work. 
 For a cook to make special dishes for me personally, for members of my 
preference/avoidance group, for fellow allergy sufferers, or whatever -- is 
a kindness, not an obligation.  It's a kindness many of us rely on, in the 
society, because being kind is part of the game.  But if this Personage were 
invited to, for example, an inaugural ball, she (probably) wouldn't throw a 
fit if her meal couldn't be cooked specially; she'd either tender her 
regrets or engage in the Southern practice of eating before you arrive and 
then moving the food around your plate.  (I'm not arguing that she should 
pay for a feast she can't eat, but just recognizing that it isn't uncommon, 
in the Real World, for folks to confront to-them-inedible meals that they 
attend because the social benefits are more important than the food.)

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