SC - Re:New World Foods-list penguins are period

[Philip & Susan Troy]

I'm coming into the middle of this, so may be missing some of the context.

  RANDALL DIAMOND wrote:

>...



>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.

...

>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


That seems extraordinarily high--are you talking about high end lamb 
chops, leg of lamb, or lamb shoulder?

>Eel                                        Not available except by special
>                                               order.
>Bear                                      Absolutely unavailable
>                                               commercially.  Rare game.


I don't know any period recipes for bear, although someone else here 
might.  Surely the obvious thing to compare turkey with is chicken, 
which is common in period recipes and, in my experience, generally 
inexpensive today.

>Elk                                         Not available.
>Fava beans                          $2.50 / pound frozen at one shop
>                                                in the area.  Fresh not


Lentils and garbanzos are period too--are they also expensive?

>available in
>                                                adequate quantity.
>Almonds                               $4.00-$7.00/ pound
>Apples                                  Fiji, Braburn and Gala are still
>                                               considered premium exotics


And are all long out of period. Finding period apple varieties is 
pretty much a matter of luck, not of being in places with fancy 
grocery stores. I used to be able to buy Summer Rambos near 
Pennsic--which is not exactly the heart of a metropolis.


>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.

Are you sick to death of period recipes using chicken, pork and beef?

>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


I would regard that as on the high end--assuming you are talking 
about the feast cost alone, and not including the hall cost.

What strikes me about this post is that you are justifying the use of 
turkey on the grounds that you cannot afford things such as eels and 
geese. But, since turkey is not an exotic (or highly flavored) meat, 
the relevant comparison would seem to be to chicken, beef, pork, and 
lamb, all of which are common in period recipes--unlike turkey, which 
only comes in at the very end of period, and for which we have close 
to no period recipes. Given a shortage of exotic ingredients, the 
obvious way to make SCA feasts different from ordinary restaurant 
food is by using period recipes that have non-exotic ingredients.

Am I missing something?

David/Cariadoc
http://www.best.com/~ddfr/