SC - Pennsic last year

[rhiannon@madcelt.com]

In a message dated 7/29/99 6:59:01 PM Eastern Daylight Time, 
lyonsden19 at hotmail.com writes:

<< Am I an exception or do most 
 never get allergy reservations for their feasts? >>

I have never gotten more than 2 allergy reservations for any given feast. 
When I have gotten them they were irrelevant from the standpoint of the 
kitchen because I don't use the same ingredients in every dish. For instance, 
a mushroom allergy I had once was easy to take care of because none of the 
dishes had mushrooms in. I once had a lentil allergy. Only one dish had 
lentils in it so it did not matter so far as changing anything.

I think the best way is to put the menu before the public ahead of time so 
they can make a judgment about whether to sign for feast or not. Some 
allergies are so wide ranging that I can't imagine even trying to accommodate 
them in the specific setting of a MEDIEVAL feast. For instance a wheat or 
almond allergy but, then again, I don't suspect that folks with such all 
encompassing allergies would sign up for a feast if they were able to see a 
menu of in advance. Or would determine whether the foods they could eat were 
numerous enough to warrant the price.

Now food aversions are a totally different subject. For instance, I wouldn't 
expect a kitchen steward to make sure that every onion I got during a feast 
was totally cooked to mush just because I automatically vomit when a half 
cooked one passes my lips.

Also some people say they have an allergy to things that they just don't like 
which is different from an aversion. But again I don't believe that any 
person who is chivalrous would use such a coward's way to make sure they 
might not get something that they don't like. Again I ignore requests that 
say something like, " Please don't serve liver because I don't like it." 
Again dislikes are not aversions. I instantly go into dry heaves just 
smelling potato salad in ANY form but I can eat potatoes and the individual 
ingredients in a different form. That is an aversion. "I don't like liver" 
from a person who has not tasted liver in every from they can be made at 
least once is a food bore. They don't like liver so far is the facts.


So, as you can see it is best to provide a varied menu  so these problems 
don't arise. :-)

Ras
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