SC - Period Dining Atmosphere (Was RE: Saffron)

[Laura C. Minnick]

CBlackwill at aol.com wrote:

> Question:  What happens when we reach the end of our historical documents?
> When we have exhausted all of the ancient information, and have learned as
> much as we can from those texts?  Then does it become okay to improvise, or
> do we become stagnant, afraid to make a decision because we have no more
> historical proof?  Just asking.

Balthazar, as a member of the much-maligned 'academic types', when this
happens I WILL PERSONALLY CLEAN YOUR KITCHEN FLOOR WITH MY TONGUE. Think
about what we had available when the SCA began- or 15 years ago, or 10,
or 5. When I started out, I had no idea that there were ANY extant cook
books. And as a scholar, I can tell you that we have only begun to
scratch the surface. 

Someone used the examples of letters- you can use the same letters but
the words aren't necessarily the same. And though there are only 26
letters in the alphabet, one might think there was a finite amount of
things you could write, and yet words flow from poets every day.

We are in no danger of running out of material to work with. We are in
danger of failing to appreciate what we have. And neglecting it means we
stand to lose it.

Hope you've got a mop. You'll need it for awhile.

'Lainie