SC - Analysing What's Wrong in Trimaris

[Mary Morman]

huzzah!

master adamantius for king!

elaina

On Sat, 26 Feb 2000, Philip & Susan Troy wrote:

> > From: Master Guillermo Perez
> > 
> <snip>
> > It is perhaps possible that Their Highnesses wish to put an end to "Bad" 
> > period feasts.
> 
> It 's possible. It also possible they want to encourage the wearing of
> cheese pinned to the left sleeve. The expedient taken seems about as
> related to the goal and as effective.
> 
> I'm sorry, I shouldn't be sarcastic, especially to one who is only
> trying to help, but you're repeating, and basing your premise on, the
> main fallacy of Her Highness's argument: that there is some connection
> between bad versus good and period versus non-period. Avoiding period
> cooking will certainly prevent people from being served bad period food,
> but how will it prevent them from being served bad modern food? The
> hinge point of all this is bad versus good, and the question of
> periodicity is really irrelevant, except inasmuch as _some_ modern food
> is so simple as to be harder to screw up than _some_ period dishes. Not
> impossible, though, for the truly dedicated.
> 
> This is rather simple logic. If I am attacked and traumatized by a black
> panther, and I am then faced with two rooms, one containing a brown
> panther and the other containing a black guinea pig, which one will I
> avoid? HRH's argument seems to suggest she would avoid the black guinea
> pig because she was more concerned with the color of the animal than its
> size, ferocity, weaponry and dietary habits.
> 
> I can see the possibility that the passage was written with a view to
> limiting the number of bad feasts that might be the result of
> overambitious cooks, but it not only  (if implicitly) unjustly blames
> period cooks for bad cooking, it also sets a legitimate A&S pursuit back
> by about nine months in the kingdom, and it still won't prevent people
> from serving badly cooked steak, chicken, corn, potatoes and chocolate cake.
> 
> And how about this? How would it be if a monarch decided that people
> spend too much money on garb which is uncomfortable anyway, so for the
> duration of the reign we should all wear jeans, T-shirts and sneakers at
> events? Can you imagine the reaction?
> 
> In any case, if there is indeed a perception (as it seems there may be)
> of at least _some_ bad cooking being fobbed off on long-suffering
> Trimarians with periodicity as the only justification, a far better
> solution would have been to act positively by saying something like, "As
> it has ever been the aim of great cooks through the ages to bring out
> the good flavors of fine ingredients, rather than disguising them, it is
> our wish that our cooks realize that simplicity is a virtue. A plain
> roast is a beautiful thing, and need not be disguised with powerful
> sauces. A well and fully-cooked chicken brings a smile to the Royal
> faces..." Etc., etc., etc.      
> 
> Adamantius
> -- 
> Phil & Susan Troy
> 
> troy at asan.com
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