SC - fancy feasts vs. simple feasts

[Catherine Hartley]

In my opinion, fancy doesn't have to be expensive. I recently did a totally 
period feast that fed 175 people for $4.75 a head (We spent on the order of 
$719.00 or so.)

The only meat we did not pay for was the venison used in the sausage.  We 
served 9 main dishes with sauces, high table extras, along with salmon, 
rabbit, and vension roasts for the the poplulace to sample. We added the 
munchies intended for lunch (people were too busy to eat)as part of the 
pre-set with the bread and butters. (Ova piena or "stuffed eggs" and some 
meat pasties). The feast itself was a strange mix of Welsh and Italian 
foods, as theme of the event was "Welsh with Italian" subtitles.  One dish 
in three was some sort of illusion food... We had a few sweet items such as 
"Trayne Roaste" (faux haslet) after certain dishes. I think we totaled 21 
separate items.

The sotelties didn't quite work due to humidity issues, nor did everything 
go out due to various kitchen calamities...but we had so much food that 
people were sending things back after sampling just a few bites by the end 
of the night.

Lots of food (both meat and veggies) without stew, potatoes, or rice in 
sight. If there was a fighter who went hungry, I didn't hear about it!

I did redact most of the recipes, but some had already been redacted by 
others (I chose to use my version, generally). Even if someone wants 
"simple", a good, filling, period feast can be done in most kitchens and 
primitive sites with the sources available today that have redacted recipes 
in them. One way to keep cost down is to use what's left over from one dish 
in making of another.

I think that people who want to learn will, those that continue to use non 
period items do out of a lack of sincere interest. If one really wants to do 
a period feast that tastes good to fighters and non fighters, it is well 
within the reach of even the smallest group. It just takes someone "wanting 
" to do it enough to take the time to find out what is needed. Even small 
groups have people who can put folks in touch with someone having period 
sources.

Well, that's my two cents or so.

Lady Caitlin of Enniskillen


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