SC - Are creations period?

[LrdRas at aol.com]

In a message dated 6/14/98 12:58:13 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
korrin.daardain at juno.com writes:

<< "If I have period ingredients and mix them
 in the restrictions of the cooking styles of period, but do not base it
 on any period recipe, is it period?" >>

Once again this is a tough question. My gut reaction is to say of course but
those that see the only "authentic" food as that which is prepared from extant
recipes would most likely disagree. When I was A&S minister, I was taught that
if one uses "period" things in a "period" fashion to "create" a "period"
object in the Cureent Middle Ages then that object was to all intent and
purposes "period". An example  of this would be illumination and calligraphy
incorporated into scrols used in the Current Middle Ages in the SCA. These
objects are to beyond question, IMO, just as valid to use as examples of
"period" work as thiose housed in a museum.

Now , before the "authenticity police" jump in and make much ado about nothing
as they are prone to do, I will point out that such a modernly created item
may be authentic but still not be an "artifact". The two are very different
concepts and any attempt to group them together is, IMO, misguided.

All in all, a person well-trained in a particular period cuisine, who chooses
to carefully create recipes within the bounds of  that trainig cannot be
accused of either dishonesty or being out of period. Of course, the creator of
such a dish, would be responsible for explaining their particular creation
within the context of their training and/or research.

After having said all of that, the question that immediately comes to mind is
why would one want to take such a step when there are literally hundreds of
recipes from period sources which still have not been recreated? OTH, if a
person feels that they want to do such a thing, it is infinitely more
exceptable to do so than to present early Modern cuisine or late period
cuisine and call it "medieval".

It's simply a matter of calling a horse a horse and remove any taint of
deception from the process of creation and presentation.

Ras

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