SC - New World Foods-rant (was: turkey)

[LrdRas at aol.com]

In a message dated 2/9/00 10:10:43 PM Eastern Standard Time, 
gloning at Mailer.Uni-Marburg.DE writes:

<< Early modern, & not always in a medieval
 tradition; some of the New World food _is_ something new and interesting
 for 16th century people, it seems to me.) >>

I have no argument with this. My argument is that there are few events themed 
around this time period. Certainly it would be inappropriate to serve a 14th 
or 15th century feast at an Elizabethan or Cavalier themed event. Most events 
are not themed around those time frames though. 

Each Kitchen Steward should also serve what they are comfortable cooking but 
be honest about what they are doing. 

It was mentioned earlier that it was OK to take one ingredient and use it as 
a substitute for the real thing and call it by the original name, IIUC. This 
is not a good thing particularly when people with allergies are depending on 
the truthfulness of the menu. I recall serving bear at a feast and listing it 
as such on the menu only to have an orthodox Jew literally attack me in the 
kitchen because they thought the menu was a 'joke' because they had recently 
been to severally feasts where the menu listed things tongue in cheek (e.g. 
the listed venison pie really contained beef). :-(

Ras
(who isn't so much concerned with the service of period food as much as he is 
with calling a spade a spade so he can avoid feasts that are not)