SC - Feasts in Trimaris

[Jehanne Argentee]

Forgive me as I step in here, step on toes, and possibly offend people.

Apologies and Grovelling in advance.


> Princess Anastasiya Zadorovc, Member of the Order of the Argent Estoile, 
> Member of the Order of the Silver Trident, Member of Order of the Laurel
said:

Yes, I'm gratitously throwing in all the titles I could dig up quickly. Oh,
forgot the Order of the Rose, Duchess, and AoA. The point being she's been
around a while.

> More than anything, his Highness and I want our populace to be able 
> to eat the food that their populace has paid for. So when we step up, 
> we request that all Feastcrats endeavor to stay away from all period feasts.

Please note the words REQUEST and ENDEAVOR this is not a command. It is
simply her asking people to TRY... Try what? "all period feasts" This is
not to say any and all period dishes. This is to say feasts where every
dish is documented, footnoted, and can't be possibly be mistaken for
anything other 'weird medieval stuff'.

Trimaris has had its share of these in the past, some good, some not so good.

> We do not mind if some removes are of a period nature, however, 
> we wish other removes of a more easily digested by the 
> majority-of-the-populace nature!

Alas, here we do seem to have the old period=indigestiable thought pattern
that people fall into. I can but hope it was a poor choice of words on
behalf of my princess.

However, the Medieval recipes for modern food that people on one of these
lists have been mentioning would easily fall into the second category.
Buttered noodles were mentioned by one gentle. So was Macaroni and Cheese.
The problem is, when these Modern Recipes with Medieval Documentation are
served, it's not made clear that they are medieval recipes. 

Menus in Trimaris, when/if they are posted, are usually just one-page
flyers taped to a wall. If they haven't read that, then all people know
about the dish is what is cried by the hall steward/herald... if they can
hear that. I crave the handouts-with-documentation that a few rare
feastcrats do.

Pardon my digression, to continue...

> We understand the reason that totally period feasts are cooked, 
> but in some cases our populace is paying the price for historical accuracy:

I've seen these cases. Worse, I've worked in the kitchen in some of them.
I've seen the good, the bad, and the ugly in Trimarian kitchens... Not sure
how much blame should lie on volunteers like myself who are following the
feastcrats recipes.. Not sure how much credit either.

> and their twentieth-century palates (and sometimes tummies) are unable
> to appreciate the research and effort that went into cooking that particular
> time period.

Sad to say, non-period feasts get alot of praise down here. I remember one
feastcrat who was a professional caterer... did a completely modern dinner,
down to the Bananas Foster for dessert... and got lots of complements.
That's not what I want, however.

It's not what her Highness wants either.

Please, good gentles. Do not feel insulted by her words, it was not her
intent to offend anyone. Harsh words have been said, surely more are not
needed. We all strive to live up to the ideas of nobility in the SCA, and
sometimes we fall short. But we should still strive.

Yours in Service

Jehanne Argentee
Kitchen Drudge & Retainer to the Cornets of Trimaris

[This message is being crossposted to sca-cooks at ansteorra.org &
Trimaris at onelist.com as posts on SCA-Cooks have been forwarded to Trimaris
by people, and I'm trying to answer the spam from BOTH lists in ONE post.]
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