SC - creations and creativity

[Knott Deanna]

Greetings,

I think what we need to do first is define 'creativity'.

Is it very creative if you make poached pears using the recipe straight out of Pleyn Delit (and so did three other entrants in the competition) or, are you more creative because you made 2 squabs out of one (using a translation of Platina's book)?  I think the definition is a little fuzzy here.  What exactly do you mean?  

In my world (for whatever it is worth), you cannot be 'creative' and 'authentic'.  You can be creative and do something in the 'style' of a certain book of hours, but it will not be an 'authentic' reproduction.  

So, what is more important?  And does creativity lead to,'Well, if they had zippers they would have used them?'  Thre are certain authors out there that have taken a medival recipe and used Worcestshire sauce as an ingredient.  It was not called for in the original recipe.  Is this an 'authentic' recipe?  Or is it acceptably creative?

In the East, every judging form I have seen has both 'authenticity' and 'creativity' columns. It's very weird.

Yours,
Avelina Keyes
 
_______________________________________________________________________________
From: sca-cooks at Ansteorra.ORG on Mon, Jun 15, 1998 15:42
Subject: SC - creations and creativity
To: SCA-Cooks

gentle friends,

i've followed the thread on 'creation' with interest and my thoughts are
in agreement with cariadoc and others that if we don't have a recipe to
base something on we can't know it was period - and coming up with the
'experience' to make something in a period fashion is difficult to
impossible.

yes, i make substitutions, but i don't call the results period recipes.

my problem however is the current A&S standards.  My kingdom (the
Outlands) and to the best of my knowledge most kingdoms, have a checklist
that they go through in rating A&S entries.  One of the categories is
creativity.  Last fall one of my apprentices did a masterful redaction of
a period recipe complete with extensive documentation and very tasty
results.  However, she was marked -down- for not being 'creative' in
working with her recipe.  The insinuation was that if she had added some
additional ingredients or a different cooking method then her score would
have been perfect.  This was not by any means the first time that i've had
to deal with this.

What's our suggested course of action?

elaina

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