SC - Feasts in Trimaris

[Jehanne Argentee]

At 09:07 AM 2/29/00 -0700, you wrote:
>Jehanne sent a very well though out post, in which I respond with the same
>correspondence I have sent to there gentles in Trimaris with concerns.
>
>This is taken directly from a letter I sent to the first gentleman that was
>cross posted on this list from the Trimaris list.
>
>
>But I have given long thought to this and I really would like you to see how
>the artists (read here cooks) feel.  You live in a very hot area.  How the
>would the costumers of the Kingdom feel if a Crown decided that they should
>make short skirts, and pants to help with the heat?  And some period things
>ere okay at night, but if no one wanted to wear them that was ok too?

No, but many of us freely make our garb of cotton instead of wool.

>Or your calligraphers feel if the Crown said that the back log of scrolls
>was too long and they were hard to read anyway, so instead of doing them by
>hand, do them on the computer and then you can color them in after they are
>printed?

The original of our scrolls are made by hand... then photocopied onto
parchment colored paper. Then hand painted. They look great and cut down on
the backlog we'd have otherwise.

>Or how about the fighters, what if a Crown decided that it was too hot, and
>the populace was bored with long tourneys, so all tournaments would now be
>first blood.  First to strike a blow cleanly anywhere wins?

No, but we do use single elimination tourneys instead of double to cut down
the time.

>Or brewers and vintners, if the Crown decided for a reign that some period
>alcohols were all right but others didn't taste so good, so instead of
>bothering to bring alot of their works to event, why don't you just bring
>some and pick up a 6 pack of Budweiser's and a 4 pack of coolers on the way
>because people like them better anyway.

No, feel free to bring what you want for yourself. But lots of people do
bring Buds or coolers, then pour them into a goblet. Then again, you aren't
paying money, sometimes a month or more in advance, to come and drink not
knowing if you're going to be getting a fine mead, a bitter tonic you can't
stand, or a Bud.

>These are all hypothetical situation, but what has happened to the cooks in
>your area is not.  

Forgive me for treating them seriously then. 

>Cooks, like me, feel that we not only do a duty to the
>SCA, but we are artists with food.  And stifling our art for the sake of
>being more modern and making more people happy is what upset the cooks
>mostly, especially when , if done right, a period feast can please all.
>
>Murkial

I am a cook myself. How does one define cooking a meal 'right'? To some
gentles, it means producing an end product that people will eat with
delight. To others, it is producing a meal close to period as possible,
using means as close to period as possible. Others combine these two with
varying degrees of sucess.

Somewhere around the house (I'll have to find it) I have a button which
reads 'It's not the Society for Compulsive Authenticity!'

If High table wants to drink iced tea or tang... fine. They'll do it out of
period goblets and no one need be the wiser. If a cook realizes that
preparing a dessert with pepper will make it taste 'odd' or unpleasent to
the modern palate, let them leave it out. We're talking about feast here,
not ArtSci entries.

Jehanne 
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