SC - A Question about thriddendele.

[Cindy Renfrow]

In a message dated 9/21/98 1:00:33 AM Eastern Daylight Time, Jgoldsp at aol.com
writes:

<<  I apologize
 if you feel slighted.  >>

There is no need to apologize but thank-you. 

I feel our basic disagreement here evolves around the question of 'What is the
purpose of a feast at an event?'.  For many years, the basic attitude of most
kingdom groups were based on the premise that the purpose of a feast is solely
to feed the masses.  Thankfully that attitude is rapidly being relegated to
extinction. 

For me, it is an integral part of the Medieval experience at an event.  I
suppose that perhaps those of us who live in the older shires of the East and
Aethelmearc are a little spoiled because we have over the last 8 to 10 years
finally dragged ourselves away from ethnic food and traditional dishes to a
point where the majority of feast participants not only expect but insist on
period food at feasts. 

After I recieved your initial post, I called about 30 shire members and asked
them what they expected from a feast at an SCA event.  With only one exception
the response was well made period food.  Twenty-three of the contacts stated
that their decision to be on or off board was always based on whether the menu
would be period or not.  Over half intimated that they never reserve onboard
space UNLESS they are positive that the feast will be period or period-like.
Two of the people have allergies and said they would never expect any kitchen
steward to cater to their specific allergies, requiring only a list of
ingredients and a variety of dishes so they could pick and choose the dishes
they could eat.  (For a complete discussion of feast preparation with regard
to allergies a quick glance through the SCA-cooks archives will reveal an
extensive body of posts on that subject.)

With the rare exception these feasts are extraordinary affairs with 3-5
courses consisting of several dishes in each course.  The menus are varied and
the extant corpora of redacted recipes assures the budding cook persona the
opportunity to produce delicious and tasty food from the very first feast they
produce.  A goodly number of feasts (including my own) consist entirely of
period recipes never before redacted or dishes that have been reworked to
simulate an end product closer to the original.

IMO, it is a far better thing to do period feasts but if the kitchen steward
is inexperienced ethnic or traditional food is the next best thing.  So long
obviously new world foods like corn, green beans and potatoes are ignored
(except in the case of the re-creation of Aztec or Spanish colonial feasts)
the budding cook will be on the right track until they get a little more
experience. 

In our shire, kitchen stewards must have served as an assistant steward for at
least one period or period-like feast and exhibited some expertise in their
ability to produce good food.  They are usually offered the lunch menu as a
start or the breakfast slot for the very beginning stewards.  This works well
and provides the shire with a broad base of experienced cooks for any event.
Kitchen helpers are usually given their own recipes to do or, in the case of
the clueless, prep tasks are assigned. Youth involved in the Pages program are
given tasks which become more involved as they progress in skill (e.g. the
Garlicky Chicken recipe that many of you found so good was produced by a 17
year old male who has worked in the kitchen for several feasts prior to being
assigned to this recipe. :-)) 

As an added incentive to get good cooks in the kitchen, the Shire has
traditionally made the Kitchen Steward an autonomous position and he/she
becomes a temporary officer of the shire along with the other o'crats of the
event.  Although he/she is responsible to the shire with regard to funding,
the Autocrat of the event never interferes in anyway with menu selection or
kitchen staffing.

BTW, you can see how such a system works and enjoy a fine period feast at the
upcoming Silver Ryhll feast where I will be the guest Kitchen Steward. The
theme of the feast is medieval German which should go over well in the center
of Pennsylvania Dutch country.:-)

It would be nice to hear what some other groups do to encourage period cookery
at events.  What system do you use?  How do you encourage others to practice
their Art in cookery?  How is your kitchen staff managed?  What positive
changes do you see in the road from feeding the masses to providing a total
medieval experience at events?  How do feast customs in your area allow for a
fuller experience of the Dream?

al-Sayyid Ras
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