SC - Chihuahuas and Basenjis
Christine A Seelye-King
mermayde at juno.com
Thu Feb 10 21:49:04 PST 2000
Heutte in Caid wrote:
>I did a Twelfth Night feast several years ago
>and I served chicken and duck for the first course,
>lamb and oxtail for the second course and salmon for
>the third course. The salmon I purchased for $1 per
>pound in Sept. when it was salmon season. I purchased
>the lamb and oxtail in Oct. for about $1.50 per pound.
>The duck and chicken were purchased in Dec. at $1.25
>and .50 per pound respectively. All were held in the
>freezer until I was ready to start cooking. I charged
>$12 for the feast, which included the hall rental in
>the price, and I made a profit. If you know how to
>manage a feast properly, then no baronial or kingdom
>coffers get depleted and no one leaves the table
>hungry.
My Lady, I do know how to manage a feast, but the prices
you pay are absurdly low even for sale items in Tennessee
and probably the rest of mid-America. Any folks sneering
at turkey don't have to consider serving it if they want to be
snobish about new world foods. But y'all very likely (assuming
Caid or NY area cooks) have a huge ethnic subculture of folks
that use these exotics mundanely on a regular basis and
therefore the price is reasonable. Plus y'all are right on the
importers doorstep for a lot of items that we never see in
the middle of the country. Sometimes I get reminded of an
old Star Trek episode when I run into such unyielding and
unsympathetic atttitudes (such as I have gotten on the
subject of turkeys). Remember Stratos, the city in the clouds?
Well let me tell you what it is like down below! Diana, Christianna,
jump into this if you would, because I don't think folks are
going to believe the extent of the problems Meridian cooks
have faced from my comments alone.
Lets go over some food availibility and prices. This is for the
Nashville, Tennessee area, the third largest metropolitan area
in the central South. Most groups in the rest of Meridies will
have a harder and more costly time finding these items.
Salmon Silver and Chum @ $2.99 is as low
as I have seen it anywhere.
Better varieties totally
unavailable.
Goose 12 birds cost $309.00 at our 12th
night 2 years ago. About $30
per
bird is considered cheap. I
raise
my own and goslings are
$6.00-
$9.00 each + feed costs.
Duck $2.50- 4.50 per pound frozen.
Fresh unavailible
Lamb $7.99 -$9.99 per pound
Eel Not available except by special
order.
Bear Absolutely unavailable
commercially. Rare game.
Elk Not available.
Fava beans $2.50 / pound frozen at one shop
in the area. Fresh not
available in
adequate quantity.
Almonds $4.00-$7.00/ pound
Apples Fiji, Braburn and Gala are still
considered premium exotics
here.
Raspberries Fresh $2.99/ pint absolute
minimum usually $5.99-$7.99
Pork Reasonable for fresh picnics
$.79-$1.29 normally.
Beef Reasonable for low end cuts.
Larger roasts and cuts are
pricey.
Chicken $.69/ pound for whole birds is very
low for this area but
possible. A
lot of feastcrats have to
resort to
legs and thighs only.
Venison Plentiful but the state laws
require professional
butchering and those folks
rip you off all the time. It
is not
unusual for a deer to come
back
half hamburger. Processing
is not cheap. Expect not to
get
back 1/3 to 1/2 of your good
roasts
either.
Rabbit Frozen only disjointed:
$2.50-$4.00 per pound.
Frog $4.99- 8.99/ pound. Legs more.
Tuna $4.99 on special sometimes
usually $9.99-$12.99
per pound. Not available
except
as fillets.
Shrimp $7.99 on special, about the same
as tuna.
Oxtail/ marrow bones $1.29-$3.00 per pound
Oysters $3.99- $5.99 per dozen in shell.
$5.99-$12.99 per pint
shucked.
I can go on with a list like this, but as far as the comments about
"familar foods" being not what one expects at an SCA feast go,
I am sick to death of chicken, pork and beef and junk fish. Many
of you are living in a veritable culinary paradise of availibility. Have
some compasion for groups who do not have your advantage. I
never demanded that YOU serve turkey as period. I just wanted
some help and support in justifying turkey as a viable alternate
in areas where it is difficult or impossible to obtain what you seem
to take for granted and where turkey is available and affordable.
We have excellent prices on vidallia onions, chitterlings, pig
trotters, beef tongue, tripe, lights, summer produce, hamburger,
hot dogs and bologna. Everything else is a tad on the high side.
I don't just go to the big markets either. I shop and buy direct
from wholesalers too. It does make it more difficult. Note I
said difficult, not impossible. Sometimes we do get much
appreciated game gifts from hunters or someone trucks in
seafood from the Gulf. I'm not asking for a pity party here,
just pointing out that there are regional differences which
affect what kinds of feasts are practical in various places.
Another big difference is that your budgets are not realistic
for SCA feasting here in this central area of the country.
I am a senior architect for a large firm. My salary is $45,000 per
year and that is considered a top salary in this area for my
field. I could make 3 times that elsewhere if I chose. I believe
that the average disposable income for areas such as NY or
California is considerably higher than in Meridies as a whole.
An average budget per head on a Meridian event is in the range
of $4.50-$6.00 per person for feast and $.50 to $.75 for breakfasts
$7.00 to $8.00 is a special Coronation feast allowance, sometimes.
In 18 years of SCA cooking, the best I have been able to get as
a feastcrat is $6.50. There are many, many good Meridians who
have to skip events because $12.00- $15.00 event fees are out of
their budgets. I mean working folks, not students. I would think
that my own salary is in the top 2% of salaries for SCA folks in
this area. Sure, there are folks making a lot more than me, but
not a huge number of them. A lot of folks making what locally
would be considered "good money" here-abouts would easily
qualify for public assistance in California and NY. Please note
that Meridian events are generally weekend long with cabin or
bunkhouse lodging included in the event price. We normally do
not rent "halls" for the feast but rather whole large sites for the
weekend. A $10.00 -$13.00 event fee is low end in our Kingdom;
generally $18.00- $24.00 is more average.
If I had half of the availability and options that you apparently have,
Ras, I would likely also firmly believe in your opinions on turkey as
much as Lanie does. I know that folks in other areas of the country
are not all rich either, but your disposable income goes a lot farther
when you visit our neck-of-the-woods than ours does when we "hicks"
go to your big cities. Some of you other folks live in remote or small
towns too and make do with what you can in SCA feasts. From what
I read on this list, you seem to do a bang up job. We cooks in
Meridies have our shining moments as well, don't get me wrong.
If our feasts aren't exotic enough or absolutely period at times, it's
not that we don't try. To a large extent, we have to raise, hunt or
grow the stuff we can't find easily in order to have at all.
I don't have any anger or bad feelings toward anyone on the list,
so don't think I'm picking on anyone in particular like Ras. He is
certainly quite capable of expressing himself intelligently. Just
remember each of us has different circumstances that color our
opinions due to who we are and where we have lived. I am sure
that some list members in other parts of the world are now
wondering how there can be such disparities among Americans
and a lot of non-SCA members are totally bored with this. Sorry
for any inconveniences or boredom I have caused. If I have
exaggerated the situation here, my fellow Meridians, please
state what you think the situation is. Whatever comments
on my opinions I get, I will still be pleased to read the
excellent and humorous daily posts in this list.
Akim Yaroslavich
"No glory comes without pain"
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