SC - Trimaris <sigh> again

[Philip & Susan Troy]

> 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