SC - "Chocolate in a Period Form"

[Philip & Susan Troy]

"UnruhBays, Melanie A" wrote:
> 
> Which I do not perceive as being nearly as offensive as trying to use the
> existing sources to justify chocolate in "period" foods. Trying to *make* it
> period, even though the scholarship on the issue clearly does not support
> it, is being less than honest with your sources. Indeed, there is no source
> that supports the *way* we eat chocolate being remotely close to the way it
> was consumed in period. It's no wonder that the academic community sniffs at
> SCA research.

It's this desire to use the atypical, singular documentation that
sometimes gets to me in the SCA. I don't really see this as being any
different from starting out by wanting to serve white potatoes, New
World beans, tomatoes with medieval English food, chocolate, or
whatever, by finding one piece (or a few) of ambiguous documentation
that can be interpreted as disagreeing with the enormoud reams of
documentation that such foods weren't typically eaten in period Europe
outside of special cases, if at all. Add to that the irresponsibility of
seeming to legitimize such research for SCA use "in period", which is
why we have people in the SCA making radical assumptions about Vikings
eating potatoes and fighting with cannons ("Hey, I thought you said all
those things were period?"), dogs and cats living together, and portents
and signs that make the Book of Revelations seem like a Sunday-schol picnic.

Pfew. Got  a little carried away there, but you get the idea, I'm sure.  
 
> I agree with Bere - let's put in real period chocolate for the contest. It
> wouldn't win, but maybe it'd give people something to think about. :-}

Hey, though, wouldn't it be cool if it _did_ win?

Adamantius
- -- 
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com
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