SC - Re: Period Feasts

[LrdRas at aol.com]

In a message dated 10/14/98 12:25:07 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
ragnar at howdygarb.com writes:

<< In all my
 years of experience, especially with a new feastacrat, people will tend not
 to try a dish that is strange to them.  People do not like to pay to eat
 something that they are not sure of. >>

<sigh> I totally disagree. My Roast of Roc Who Feedeth Her Young with
Elephants is a perfect example. That particular feast was sold out weeks in
advance BECAUSE emu (not period  in Europe) were the center piece dish. 

Before that my 'Feast of of Things that Could be Borrowed or Stolen From the
King's Forest sold out. It consisted entirely of game dishes. Bear steew,
venison pasties, squirrel, rabbit and pidgeon plus some animals  that I
purposely didn't ask about before cooking them and a donated rattlesnake. I
have been told it was one of my best. Unfortunately I didn't get to eat it.

At the last feast I served roasted rabbit (2 per table of 8) . None came back
to the kittchen.

The people will eat period food if it is prepared well. I have never found a
need to  'modernize' ingredients to today's palette (whatever that phrase
means). Many other cooks on this list like Aiofe and Adamantius can report the
same thing.

The SCA clearly encourages re-creating the best of the Middle Ages in areas
totally unrelated to cookery  And it makes no special exceptions for the
cook's craft. To automatically assume that people wnat 'familiar' food that
tastes like modern food  at feast is , IMO, and experience simply not true.
What they want is someone to do the cooking who knows how to cook. A majority
of feast goers are disappointed when they set down to dishes and food that
they eat everydayand consider such feasts a waste of money. The focus of the
SCA cook should be primarily aimed at enhancing the medieval experience.

I am not ranting at you, Ragnar. Quite the opposite. I am merely trying to
point out that if you cook period feasts and cook them well people will not
only enjoy the feast, they will be beating a path to your door.

Ras
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