SC - advice/help: shish kebabs period?

[Decker, Terry D.]

     I have to politely agree with Clarissa - please, please post a list of 
     ingredients outside your kitchens. There are those of us who are 
     genuinely allergic to certain things and sometimes we don't know we're 
     going to an event until the day before, so we can't always call the 
     feastocrat ahead of time.
     
     I recently went to an out-of-area event and went into the kitchen to 
     help out. The feastocrats were great people (and I learned a lot from 
     them!). Their computer had exploded or something, so they didn't have 
     their recipes or ingredients with them. I can't metabolize *any* 
     alcohol, so I simply asked them which dishes contained alcohol, which 
     the cooks promptly and politely told me. I had fun for the rest of the 
     day chopping veggies and washing dishes, and I sat down to a delicious 
     feast.
     
     Unfortunately, I blithely chomped into the salad and got a mouthful of 
     pickled onions. The salad was *not* one of the two dishes which they 
     told me contained alcohol, so I had thought everything else was safe. 
     I think that the cooks couldn't find boiling onions when they went 
     shopping the day before the feast, so they substituted bottled martini 
     onions... which are floating in vermouth.
     
     So, I had severe stomach cramps that evening as my body attempted to 
     metabolize what to me is a poison. Not fun.
     
     The cooks were extremely competent, talented people, who I understand 
     have cooked professionally mundanely as well as SCAdianly for many 
     years. It was, in my opinoin, an unfortunate but understandable 
     oversight whilst in the throes of the last hectic 24 hours of 
     pre-feast preparation. They had made a great effort to balance the 
     menu so that carnivores, vegetarians, and lactose-intolerant people 
     could all go home stuffed. They *had* made accomodations for allergic 
     folks.
     
     I truly enjoyed working in this couple's kitchen, and hey, I only 
     swallowed enough to feel like hell, not to pass out for 18 hours like 
     I normally do when alcohol finds its way into my food. It was just 
     unpleasant to cap off a great day of learning and fun with physical 
     pain.
     
     If any of you cooks have a secret recipe, would you at least post what 
     commonly potential allergens it contains? (ie. "contains dairy 
     products") I respect your desire to protect your creation and not give 
     out your recipe/ingredients. I just politely ask that you make 
     reasonable accomodations for responsible allergic people.
     
     Katja
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