SC - Feast of St. George, was accomodating vegetarians

[Anne-Marie Rousseau]

hey all from Anne-marie

re: accomodating allergies and vegetarianism at feasts

funny how this topic comes around every so often, like clockwork, eh?
nothing new under the sun...:)

As with Adamantius and Ras, I too am more than willing to accomdate any
kind of food wierdness as long as I have enough notice. the deal is,
though, the menu is often set MONTHS before the banquet, so you need to let
me know right away. The week before I cant help you much. 

If nothing else, I make sure there is a very detailed and ACCURATE
ingredient list readily availalbe . Last time I bought a feast ticket, I
was assured by the head cook over the phone that there would be no walnuts
(induces a classic histimine and anaphylactic response...most unpleasant!).
I show up and guess what they had added to about half the dishes? I checked
out the kitchen, and as I couldnt be assured that cutting boards etc were
cleaned adequately between prep jobs, I chose to give up my prepaid ticket
and go off site (dont feel too bad, it was an outstanding French
restaurant!  I am a cassoulet junkie...:)).

THe take home is that as a self described food snob and with a scary
allergy, I consider it MY responsibility to see that I'm fed. I'm a grwon
up, I'm capable of making educated decisions and voting with my feet. My
feelings as a cook would never be hurt if someone chose not to eat my feast
becuase of food allergies, or it was just not to their tastes (I tend to do
a lot of rich food, and some folks dont care for that), or they were such
food weenies they couldnt handle anything but MacDOnalds or Mac'n'cheese
out of a box. I might be a bit disappointed that they wouldnt even try new
stuff, but hey, its their loss.

On a related note, I think its important to remember that the concept of
"vegetarianism" isnt really a medieval one...most folks when they "fasted"
ate enough fish to sink a battle ship. Only the truely penitent would go so
far as to not eat any meat of any sort. And if they were that penitent,
what are they doing at a party? :)

Not that we shouldnt take folks modern food conerns into account, but its
something to keep in mind...

- --AM, who hopes someday to do a real lenten feast, with lots of fishes and
stuff....mmmm....halibut with sauce bob!

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