SC - Are creations period?

[Robyn Probert]

><< "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?" >>

IMO it is theoretically possible, but hard to do in practice becuase of the
minset/assumptions we bring to our interpretations of what is period.

To use an analogy, if you took an Italian cook, a French cook, a Chinese
cook and an Indian cook and gave them all the same ingredients, they would
come up with very different dishes, each based on their own set of "normal"
cooking techniques and tastes.

It is possible to learn how to cook in a different style or culture, but in
my experience, you have to do a lot of it before you get to the point where
you can be confident that something you make up "in the style of" would be
seen/tasted/recognised by someone from that culture as "authentic".

In some of my other areas of interest (costuming, illumination) I do not
always make a direct copy of something, although I do a lot of that too,
especially when learning a new style. I almost always play or sing period
music and rarely write new music "in the style of" (too much work), but I
think it is a valid thing to do if really well researched. I think you need
to do a LOT of music/costuming/painting/whatever in a given style before you
can be confident you have understood the essence of it. I have been learning
about these styles for over 15 years and feel I only understand bits of
them, but I certainly enjoy making attempts at "in the style of".

In cooking, it certainly means working from the original recipies as much as
possible, rather than modernised redactions. Even here, we have a variety of
sources which we pilfer. 13th C Persian cooking has a different set of
techniques and asumptions to 15th C European. This really means learning
SEVERAL medieval cooking styles!

I guess that is what many of us are trying to do in many ways within the SCA
- - to immerse ourselves enough in a selected portion of the culture so that
we can begin to understand what the assumptions are. Educating our palates
to appreciate and understand period food is the first step towards
recreating "in the style of". 

I think the ultimate test of true understanding of a culture's food is to be
able to make a "new" dish and have it recognised by someone from that
culture. Pity we haven't any medieval cooks to try our ideas out on :)
Until someone invents a time machine, our discussions here are about as
close as we are going to get...

Sorry, didn't mean to haul out the soapbox
Rowan


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Robyn Probert				
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