SC - Period Recipes

[Donna J. White]

Your Lordship,

I feel humbled even attempting to reply to one of your posts.  I believe
intimidated might be a better term; however, I will attempt to answer
what may be some of several posters' concerns.

>There seems to be a very common attitude in the SCA that authenticity 
>is
>something you do for A&S contests, rather than something you do 
>because it
>is fun, interesting, and makes the Society a better place.

I am not knocking contests or those entering contests, nor am I knocking
anyone of rank within the Society.  Obviously somebody felt recognition
was deserved for those holding titles of differing sorts to bestow the
honor(s) in the first place.  I am not saying we should forget
documentation, either.  All I believe is that each member has within them
a limit as to how period that person wishes to be and how much "trouble"
they wish to go to to be accepted by members of rank.  I am not one to go
to extraordinary documentary lengths for a hobby that help me escape the
travails of mundane life.

>
>The obvious next step is that if authenticity is for A&S contests, 
>then the
>reason to be authentic is to win such contests. It follows that
>authenticity is a status game played by people who want to think they 
>are
>better than other people. From that one gets the reverse status game 
>of
>"I'm a good person--see, just to prove I'm not an authenticity nazi, 
>I'll
>serve corn, potatoes and pizza for the feast."

Unfortunately there are far too many members who wear their brass hats as
a banner of "betterment" and look down upon those who do not worry with
reaching for rank as unworthy slugs.  Likewise there are many brass hats
who are more down to earth than some of the "slugs" I have known. 
Baroness Regina of the Amazon Household is one of those people.  She is
one of the sweetest people I have ever met.  Likewise Mistress Elizabeth
"Weezy" of Tempio (I believe).  No one has ever said anything ill, that I
know of, of this dear lady.  They are both gems in their own right.

I have never considered serving corn (outright), scalloped potatoes,
pizza or spaghetti for a feast.  I have only done one in my time and
given the difficulties that have risen since that time (long story),
although I really wanted to do more, it will probably be my last.  Alas
it was my own mentor that has pushed me from the stove (not because the
feast was bad, but for other -- more personal -- reasons).

I do not consider myself better or worse than anyone else, despite rank
or documentation requirement.  My comment was merely designed to inform
members who may not understand (or have noticed) why only a handful of
list members enter discussions these days.  I am simply needing my energy
for other pursuits (like teaching 18 hours this semester while taking 6
hours in a different field and caring for 4 children under 13).  Arguing
has become tedious and I choose not to engage unless I feel I have been
misunderstood.

All too often, when a member writes about being "modernly period" or
"reformist", other members assume this means that member doesn't care or
would be foolish enough to serve blatantly modern food and expect not to
suffer the slings and arrows of consternation from the feasters, as well
as the mounds of leftovers to be disposed of in some way.  At the feast I
prepared, I served Farsed Chicken with a few modifications due to budget
(and the Sultana's allergy) constraints.  I also served Beef and Mushroom
Stew.  In addition, there was a modern green bean casserole, roast pork
(quartered), sweet potatoe and strudel casserole, egg custard, cake, and
fruit with chocolate dipping sauce and the extra strudel as a dipping
sauce.  We had leftovers mainly because the weather did not cooperate and
we had far fewer people than we anticipated.  Everything but the Farsed
Chicken disappeared.  I did try to research as much as I could with the
schedule I regularly keep (see above).  I did this because I did not want
face the barrage of insulting comments regularly flung toward stewards
not keeping feasts perfectly -- or nearly perfectly -- period.

I agree we should make an effort to retain the atmosphere of the Middle
Ages; however, when keeping that atmosphere leads to the segregation
between the "haves" of brass hats and the "have nots" of anything, I
believe we have gone too far.  All I ask is that we allow a neutral
middle ground upon which we all meet and share experiences.  We are here
to commune.  Let's do so peacefully.

I have not meant to offend anyone.  It seems that no matter what I write,
however, there will be someone's toes stepped upon.  Please allow me to
just sit in the shadows and watch.  I have had my mouth closed for me a
few too many times to try again.  You know, sometimes you just get tired.
 Lady Katherine, don't be discouraged, there are other newcomers for you
to nurture.  I simply have played all I can.

Tired of the squabbling and now silent,

Genevieve