Non-period feasts (was Re: SC - First topics)

[kat]

Gunthar writes:

> I have seen Stewards swear to having NONE of that period slop at their
> events.  I've seen steak and mashed potatoes extravaganzas, a good friend 
> of mine got an A&S award for cooking feasts of roast beef, potatoes and
> cobbler as well as organizing chili night. There have been spaghetti and
> pizza feasts as well as stir-fry buffets. These are all meals I've 
attended and
> enjoyed but were not remotely period and they weren't meant to be.


When I first became interested in cooking in the SCA, I went to the person 
who the entire Barony agreed was the greatest feastocrat in the group.  I 
worked with her on a few events, and then asked if I could enter a 
mentoring relationship with her.  Among the "gems of wisdom" this lady 
imparted to me:

	*  You can't do a period feast because there are only about thirty recipes 
that are really period anyway, and everyone's already sick of them.
	*  There's no point in entering cooking competitions.  They always expect 
you to have documentation, and there's no way to document food.
	*  They don't give any awards for cooking in the West, except for service 
awards, because cooking isn't an A&S thing.
	*  Feast themes are always done by country.  And if you do a French feast 
you should use Escoffier.

Boy, was I in for a shock!  ;-)
The sad part was, her feasts were really good.  (And my first feasts, under 
her tutelage, were pretty good too.)  She's not involved in SCA or pretty 
much anything else anymore, or I'd happily enlighten her...

Just my tuppence....

	- kat



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