SC - Kids and feasts

[Anne-Marie Rousseau]

Kiriel & Chris wrote:

> I am actually pretty stunned at reading the stories of other people's
> childrens feasts.  I really don't think it would even occur to anyone in
> Lochac to serve the sorts of food people are listing; hotdogs,
> hamburgers, macaroni cheese, chicken strips.

All of the foods mentioned above are available as forms of "convenience food",
and of course they vary in quality. Parents of small children (at least the
ones I know, myself included) often simply haven't time to prepare a good meal
from scratch, so I suspect many children have become acclimated to a diet high
in these types of "fast" foods. As I say, though, these often vary in quality,
and a hamburger is no less nutritious than a small steak or cutlet, if made
from decent meat and properly prepared. Same for hot dogs, which are available
in the form of crap and non-crap, depending on who you buy them from and
probably on how much you pay for them, too. [I wonder if it's possible sausages
in general are looked upon with suspicion by most of the British and those of
associated cultures because of the changes wrought in the meat industry during
the hardships of the Second World War, among other influences: I have yet to
meet a banger that deserved the name of "sausage", or had any recognizable meat
character to it. Just an observation, not a criticism. My own country seems
full of people who haven't the faintest idea how lucky they've been, as a
rule.]  I suppose my point is that the foods mentioned above are not
intrinsically evil, if you exercise reasonable caution.

> I honestly think that it just would not even occur to them. And, I
> suspect it would not occur to kids that they should not eat pretty much
> the same sorts of food as the grownups. I suspect too, that parents
> would be pretty unimpressed at their kids being fed that sort of junk.

If it were junk, yes, I agree. And if it bore no relation to period foods, I
would also agree. If the only justification is that kids will eat it, then I
suppose it has fullfilled the bare minimum requirement, but I would hope for
more than that.

> I think that childrens feasts here would maybe contain simpler more
> recognisable foods, such as roast and cold meats, cheeses, boiled eggs,
> meatballs, salads, bread, vegetables, fresh fruit, jam tarts, but
> nothing really out of period.  If at a potluck someone brought
> lamingtons or something obviously out-of-period like that, I might give
> it to the kids because they would be least disturbed by its appearance
> on their feasting table; but I think that generally kids pretty much
> accept what they are given.

If they are raised from day one in the knowledge that they will eat what is put
in front of them, then that's probably true. However, for some, this is more
difficult than it sounds. If one is prepared for a child, say, to go for two or
three days without eating anything (children can easily be that stubborn,
although I use that as a worst-case scenario), then there's a good chance the
kid will grow up understanding that the world goes on, and that the question of
whether he or she likes the peas is really quite insignificant.

> I would be interested to hear if any other Lochac people feel
> differently, or similarly.

I would expect many of the folk of Lochac to feel as you do, which is perfectly
fine. I expect it is a product of the culture that produced Lochac, which is
also a fine one, if different from my own, which is perhaps why you seem a bit
shocked at the image (as it possibly seems to you) of ramming poisonous junk
food down the throats of innocent children. Any of a number of approaches will
answer the need of meeting the dietary expectations and needs of children,
while still making them feel like long-ago people eating long-ago foods. It's
just that American kids know that their hot dogs would have lasted from the
Middle Ages without refrigeration...uh, strike that last part, I really _was_
joking!

> I find it especially interesting in light of other conversations on this
> list regarding ingredient listing for feasts and taking into account
> allergies; frankfurts/hotdogs have heaps of red food colouring in them
> for example, which can be horrific for some kids systems.  And how would
> you list all their ingredients for the feast?

That's certainly a significant problem, and I can only say that the
better-quality frankfurters have less poison in them, as a general thing, and
that there's a fairly narrow spectrum of possible additives, so most
intelligent parents would have a pretty good idea if their children would
encounter problems from eating them, and they can either read the ingredients
from the commercial packaging, or a list provided by the butcher, if they are
hand-made. There probably is no perfect solution to this problem, but that
doesn't mean it can't be addressed with a reasonable level of success.

> I am sorry if I sound really horrified, condemning or snooty, but I am
> honestly just stunned more than anything else.

Well, there's reason for you to be stunned. This is just another case of SCA
cultural anthropology. I don't feel there's any particular need to be
condemning or snooty, and don't think anyone would see your remarks in that
way, if they consider the differences in the prevailing cultures of Lochac,
and, say, the East Kingdom, where I live.

Now, speaking of SCA anthropology, a really important question: Just what are
these lamingtons, anyway???

Adamantius
______________________________________
Phil & Susan Troy
troy at asan.com


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

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".

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