SC - Re: [Trimaris] Highnesses, Lownesses, and Period Cooking.

[Jeff Gedney]

> People pay for feast, and as
> such they should have the right to suggest that the food be acceptable to
> THEIR palates and tastes.

hey, the Clue Phone is ringing, Pick it up
We have given in this discussion numerous of examples of period feast and 
food items that were damned tasty to _my_ modern palate.

I did an almost _entirely_ period feast for my first feast, and everything was 
very much enjoyed.

Food is food.
We have not changed, biologically, since ad 800, and much of our tastes 
have remained. (I eat and enjoy a 5th century grilled steak every 4th of July)

the myths of "changing tastes"  and u""unpalatqable over spiced glop" are 
just Hollywood conventions, and have no basis in research or reality

I would have hoped that SCA Royalty would try to elevate our recreation,
not pander to unsubstantiated cultural myths.


>  Does the word COMPROMISE ring a bell ?

Sure does.
as in "compromising the stated goals of SCA events".

I give you the corpora of the SCA

II. SOCIETY EVENTS 
A. SOCIETY EVENTS DEFINED. The term "Society event" refers to tournaments, feasts, and other activities whereby participants can display the results of their researches into period culture and technology in an environment which evokes the atmosphere of the Middle Ages and Renaissance. 

Read that again.
Now tell me how serving Tang and Turkey at an event "Displays results of research" or "evokes the Atmosphere of the Middle Ages and Rennaissance"


>  I'm a Custom Knifemaker, and if I don't make what people want, they won't
> buy it. 

And if you were making a knife for an Arts competition at Pennsic, 
I very much doubt it would be a Klingon knife. It would have a period design.
there is no forum to make food for many in the SCA except through feasts.
Why shoud we pander to the lowest common denominator, instead of trying
to be the best period cooks we could be?

> If you make a period feast that less than half of the people in the
> hall can choke down, then why should they pay for it ? Just so the cook
> doesn't have a snit? I don't think so.

I never have had a problem "choking down" perfectly period food made by 
cooks around here.

Two things can spoil a meal, bad cooks and bad recipes.
Since _we_ have no trouble with the recipes, I think you might see what 
may be the REAL problem with "period" feasts in your area.

You should try fixing the real problem. You do not have enough cooks who 
know how to properly research, redact, scale up and cook period recipes.

If your plumbing leaks, you dont tell your family not to bathe, you get the 
pipes fixed. 

Harumph!

Just because HRH has a high rank don't make her right, it just makes her 
wrong with precedence.

brandu