SC - Ostrich, and cruelty to geese

[marilyn traber]

> Anne-Marie writes:
> 
> > Boy, interkingdom anthropology time!
> > Here in Madrone, we have a huge guild, and often will have 20-40
> > live, warm, experienced cook bodies champing at the proverbial bit.
> > It is very unusual for us to do any pre-cooking, and we all spend
> > happily all day making food the day of the feast.
> 
> ....as opposed to here, where one person volunteers to run the whole thing
> and then has to browbeat his/her spouse and 5-6 friends into being
> "kitchen staff" and bribe the local impoverished college students into
> serving or cutting veggies or what-have-you...
> 
> 
> ...whimper...
> 
> > The day of the
> > feast, the kitchen head doesnt get to cook anything (poor kitchen
> 
> ...moan....
> 
> > We are fortunate here in Seattle in that the Pike Place Market is just
> 
> <<<envy envy envy envy>>>  Man, I think I know where *I* wanna live when I
> grow up!!!!
> 
> Sheesh.  Not only does she have The Spice Guy, she's got waterfront
> wholesale one-stop shopping.
> 
> Guess I'll just go jump off a cliff now...  <G>
> 
> But seriously... this is a good model and maybe something to aspire to.
> Hmmmmm... and all this can happen just from starting up a cooking guild
> and encouraging it?   
> 
> 	- kat, who is slowly turning from green to thoughtful...  ;-)
> 
> 
Gee, kat's turning green.  She must not have gotten over Saint Paddy's Day.

While there is a lot to be said for the Madrone Cook's Guild's approach,
there is also a tremendous sense of accomplishment in pulling off a feast
with a short crew.

On the organizational side, you are discussing a barony with 20-40
practicing cooks.  I'm in a barony that has averaged 50 paid members per
year since it was an incipient shire over 20 years ago.  From the number of
cooks, I would estimate Madrone's population at 200 to 300, enough to make a
Kingdom.  

At any given time we have about 12 hard chargers in the 50, who form the
core of the work force.  We are spread thin on any major event, so I
consider myself lucky to have a kitchen staff of 2 or 3, and a serving staff
of about 15.  So the Madrone model, probably won't work in my barony.  It is
worth considering at the regional (proto-principality) level.

Bear
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