SC - What would you do?

[grizly at mindspring.com]

sca-cooks at ansteorra.org wrote:
My first feast was just that, my first feast.  I had worked for years in the kitchens of other great Kitchen Stewards and Cooks.  I learned a lot.  The fact that my first forray was ina  very small shire helped my chances, as well as the fact that I has a headstrong autocrat pitching us as a package, and I was his first 'draft pick' for the kitchen.

Now that I am in a fairly large Barony, I seldom have gotten top billing for a feast for lots of reasons.  That has afforded me the wonderful opportunity of being a resource and tempering my skills in support of other cooks and organizers.  Some seek me out, while others are accepting of my offer of assistance.  I will look forward to being the main kitchen event again in the futrue, but in the mean time, I have made a niche and name for myself in being a strong support for those who are on the byline.  

Decide your goal; mine was to cook medieval food, be a proponent of good cookery and get a reputation for quality and excellence.  More than one way to reach that goal has been found.  My other suggestion is to do invitational dinners for small groups.  Large events that sell out feast are a good opportunity to cook for others and begin building the foundation and earn trust from others.  The bottom line is that it takes trust and respect for a Host Group to give a person half the event cash outlay and ask them to serve food to the attendees.

niccolo difrancesco

"Nothing gives one more credit than making sure others get theirs, or giving credit away like candy to those who have earned it."
                                          ------ a mentor

Jenne Heise wrote:
> I have a related question. It's pretty much come to my attention that my > local group is just never going to consider me ready for 'the big time' > (running an event or a feast)-- there's always going to be one more hoop > to jump through, for me and for others. ;) [Personality issues stink, > don't they?]

> Now, right now I certainly don't consider _myself_ ready to run a feast-- > I'd need LOTS more practice with period cooking and sit-down meals, since > all my experience with SCA meal planning, preparation and serving has been > dayboards. However, I kinda would like to consider it a goal to cook an > SCA feast.
>
> But I get the impression that most groups object violently to having
> someone from outside the group cook a feast. Some groups even seem to > impose other requirements (membership in a local cook's guild is one I've > heard of). So, is this an impossible dream? Should I consider moving? > >>>>>>>>