SC - Feasts in Trimaris

[david friedman]

At 11:47 PM -0500 2/29/00, Jehanne Argentee wrote:
>At 05:02 PM 2/29/00 -0600, david friedman wrote:
>  >At 1:50 PM -0500 2/29/00, Jehanne Argentee wrote:
>
>*snip*
>
>  >>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.

...

>  >Would you similarly argue that there is no reason to wear period
>  >looking clothes rather than bluejeans and tshirts at the feast--since
>  >we are talking about feast, not artsci entries?


>No, but I would argue there is no reason not to wear cotton instead of
>wool, because Florida is just too hot! I've been told that having Viking
>garb in cotton isn't authentic... But it feels alot better to me. :) Then
>again, I'm not entering my garb into ArtSci... I'm just trying for
>something that looks alright while being comfy.

So your position is that authenticity does matter in ordinary SCA 
activities, not just in contests, but only at a low level? Once we 
get above that level, making things more authentic is only 
appropriate for contests? And you would actively discourage people 
from trying to figure out what clothing vikings would actually have 
worn in hot weather? (I don't think you  would, of course--my point 
is that that is what Her Highness is doing, in the case of cooking, 
and you are defending her).

>Similiarly, leaving pepper out of Leche Lumbard makes it taste better to
>me, so I'll leave it out.

On page 35 of _Two Fifteenth Century Cookery Books_ you will find a 
recipe for Leche lumbarde (v, not vi) that contains no pepper.

I don't think anyone is arguing that the way to do a period feast is 
to pick a period recipe at random and then do it--any more than the 
way to make dinner at home is to pick a recipe at random from Fanny 
Farmer. Obviously you select, from among the available recipes 
(period in one case, modern in the other) the ones you like.

>
>I'm not against ALL authenticity. But I'm not an Authenticity Mavin (mental
>note to self: re-read that section of the Known World Handbook soon). My
>mead tends to be more authentic than my cooking, but it varies. If I try a
>period recipe, and think its perfect as is... that's how I use it. If I try
>it, and decide that it would be better without a particular ingrediant, or
>with a different method of preparing, I try that. It might not be as
>authentic, but in a choice between a perfectly authentic recipe that my
>boyfriend will merely eat (and the man will eat nearly anything, with two
>exceptions) and an adjusted recipe that he gobbles down with delight and
>asks for seconds.... I'll go with the adjusted.

We aren't discussing a statement by Her Highness saying that period 
food was a good thing, but she understood that it wasn't always 
practical for all groups to make their feasts perfectly period, and 
she didn't mind. That would be the equivalent of your position--that 
period is nice, but sometimes it isn't worth doing. Her statement was 
a request to groups not to do entirely period feasts. That moves 
period cooking from the category of a good thing that isn't always 
worth doing to a bad thing that we sometimes have to tolerate--she 
doesn't "mind" if there are some period courses in a feast.

Going back to your statement ...  . Given that period recipes almost 
never contain quantities, times, or temperatures, I find it a little 
hard to imagine what sort of adjusting you have to do. If your 
boyfriend doesn't like the amount of pepper in something, can't you 
just use less? Or pick another recipe?

And, on a slight tangent, ...  . What are your sources for period 
mead recipes? I only know one usable one, plus one slightly out of 
period source.

David/Cariadoc
http://www.best.com/~ddfr/