SC - competition

[Tyrca@aol.com]

Greetings!  Lady Beatrix of Tanet suggested: 

>If you don't mind illusion food, I have a doozy which I been keeping 
>back for just such an occasion. (snip...)  You peel a melon, a 
>cantaloupe or one of it's cousins, slice off about 2 inches one of the 
>ends, and scope out the seeds. fill the cavity with jello [before it 
>gels] and replace the lid. Let the jello set. Frost the melon with a 
>combination of cream cheese and powdered sugar[beated together 
>first]Roc's Eggs, anyone?

Might I suggest transposing this into something more medieval or 
Renaissance?  From what I have seen, illusion foods recreated real 
foods with a surprise.  You really _might_ stuff an egg shell with 
custard and cook it to set.  You could take marzipan or sugar paste and 
make it look like a hard-boiled egg or even bacon.  But, I haven't seen 
any evidence that something mythological such as a roc's egg would have 
been mimicked.  Statues of gods and goddesses, yes; made of sugar, or 
marzipan, or sugar paste, yes.  To me, roc's eggs would belong to our 
modern version of what was done in the Middle Ages.  Now, if one wanted 
to do a roc's egg then one should look at what foodstuffs were 
available to make it from.  I would think that cantalopes, jellow, and 
cream cheese would be "right out."  But... the concept is interesting.  
What illusion foods can you "invent" that would fit into the medieval 
or Renaissance world and would avoid modern ingredients or forays into 
our modern fantasy world?

You already probably know of "apples" made from meatballs; hollow 
walnuts made of sugar paste with trinkets inside; and the 
above-mentioned bacon and hard-boiled eggs of marzipan or sugar paste.
Can we invent something similar?

Alys Katharine

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