SC - Stefan's files for June

[Michael F. Gunter]

In a message dated 99-05-27 12:59:45 EDT, Bonne wrote:

<< Spreading knowledge, building an expectation of period food, leading by 
 example, is good.   >>

Amen, sister.  ;-)  I got lucky at my last feast.  I did all Elizabethan from 
the various 1580+ cookboks out there.  It was an experimental feast in that I 
cooked for 120, but only 40 people got the chicken, 40 people got the beef 
and 40 people got the mushroom main entree.  Unbeknownst to me, my autocrat 
had told everyone who purchased feast that "it's a totally period feast.  Try 
everything.  Trust us."  Not only did I not have anyone turn up their noses 
at anything, I got 14 requests for the recipes, mighty vivats from the 
assemblage, and an admonition from a Duchess to make sure I wrote this one up 
for the Art/Sci newsletter.  I've been doing feasts for 23 years and I can 
safely say this was my best ever, and I was a bit overwhelmed by the 
enthusiastic responses.  I was told by one feaster that he was prepared not 
to like it, on principle, but changed his mind with the first dish.  He was 
also one of the ones who asked for a couple of the recipes.  I'm still 
working on the article for Triskele (being on the road for work is NOT 
conducive to creative writing), but I've had some really positive feedback in 
that a couple of kitchen bosses from other feasts have cornered me at events 
for information on how to "ram period food down the populace's throat".  I 
always tell them to use every ounce of cooking ability they have to their 
best advantage, make it tasty, season it with love for what they're doing, 
serve the hot stuff hot, and the cold stuff cold, and give the feasters a 
little history lesson before you start serving.  The populace is NOT stupid 
(for the most part), and they appreciate being told about the historical 
context of the food they're about to dive into.  It works.   

Walk in peace,
Wolfmother
============================================================================

To be removed from the SCA-Cooks mailing list, please send a message to
Majordomo at Ansteorra.ORG with the message body of "unsubscribe SCA-Cooks".

============================================================================