SC - Re: A question of re-creation

[Debra Hense]

 In a message dated: Date: Wed, 2 Aug 2000 18:25:37 EDT From: DeSevyngy at aol.com 

<<
In the question of a loaf of bread entered into a competition.  Was the flour 
hand ground, by the artist?  No? No problem.  Yes?  Great, the bread was made 
with a very close approximation of a period ingredient, extra point.  Why?  
The difference is in the answer to the first question.  If the artist didn't 
grind the flour themselves, not a problem.  The point is, was it ground in a 
period manner?  If it was, I don't care how the artist got it.  Beg, borrow 
steal or make, was the ingredient a close approximation to the period 
ingredient?  If it is, they are going to get one more point to the identical 
loaf made with modern flour, wether they ground it or if it was bought from 
someone who did.  You see, I'm judging from the standpoint of "Is this bread 
a good representation of a period loaf of bread?" not "Is this artist a good 
representation of a period baker?"
>>

Having just attended the Kingdom A&S competiton for Calontir last weekend, this really strikes a chord with me.  One of the entrants, had ground her own flour and ground or powdered the ingredients also - in her best approximation of period manner.  She then made a loaf of bread with these ingredients.  She went a step further and made a loaf using all modern ingredients (ie: easily available in the grocery) using the same measurements.  The medieval approximation loaf had more texture, and more flavor (IMO - Hmmm Hmmm Good!).   So, the judges could see for themselves the difference between swhat store bought ingredients will give you and what medieval hand-ground, or stone-ground, milled flour willl give you.  And she included a very nice presentation of all the hand-ground ingredients so that we could see for ourselves the work she had done.  Truly impressive work.  She received the Judges Award.  

I'd like to add a thought for discussion for judging here:  When I am judging, I ask questions of the entrant (here in Calontir, most of the competitions require face-to-face judging).  I feel I can learn something from the entrant.  Most of the entries I have judged in the past five to seven years - I feel I came away with a nugget or more worth's of new information, or a different perspective (take) on an old standard.  Every entrant has something to share.  Some of my favorite questions to ask are:  Is there something we have not asked you and you would really like us to know about when we go to score your entry?  What was the funnest part of doing this project?  If you had it to do over - what would you change?  I intend my questions to probe for: Did they have fun doing this project? Did they feel they learned something doing this project? Answers to these questions do not reflect on the scores - but are intended to make the entrant feel good about themselves no matter what score they get. Of course, there is the odd entrant every now and then who didn't have any fun doing the entry and didn't learn anything.  And I feel sorry for those few people.  Because I feel learning is fun.  Trying new things can be fustrating, but the sense of accomplishment when it is done outweighs the fustration. Doing the same thing over and over to the point I am no longer learning something new or having fun - is boring.  And I'd rather have fun than do something extremely well and be bored.

Kateryn de Develyn