SC - Competitions?

[Michael F. Gunter]

Hi all,

There was a great deal of discussion on the list about entering
A&S competitions and finding the right judges. Now I may be throwing
fat on the fire here but I have a question, mainly to the Laurels
here but also to everyone else. Why enter A&S competitions?

The way I look at it is that we get the opportunity to display our
talents to the majority of people at all the events all year round.
Someone once told me that if I wanted a Laurel I should enter A&S
competitions, hold classes, and teach people my art. Also I should
become proficient in more than one field. Well, to start off, I'm
not pursuing a Laurel (trust me, one Peerage is headache enough) and
I think I already do those things. At least a couple times a year over
the past few years I've had the chance to display what I do to
crowds ranging from 100 to 500. I'm now doing my best to teach other
cooks period techniques and assist them in menu planning. I haven't
held classes, although I've thought about doing a couple, but I think
that period cooks teach the populace whenever we give them a tasty dish
that is of the period.

I can understand entering small, fancy dishes that you wouldn't be able
to duplicate on a grand scale in an A&S. I also think A&S competitions 
are valuable venues especially for artists whose work isn't on display
as much. Calligraphers & Illuminators is a good example of this. But
it just seems that we cooks, and brewers and bards have so many 
opportunities to show off what we love to do and get nearly instant 
feedback that entering them seems almost unnecessary. I've even voted
for a full Italian meal that the cook served and instructed on how
everything was prepared and eaten. She won first place and it was well
deserved but I would have appreciated the meal more if she had served
a feast with the same information.

I don't know if I'm going to go down in flames for this but it just
seems curious to me. We are the luckiest people in the Society because
our skills are sampled by so many people and we get so much appreciation
for our work.

Just some thoughts, so whaddya say?

Yers,

Gunthar
(Who may finally have the chance to see just what's under that rock.)
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