SC - Period serving practices

[Bronwynmgn at aol.com]

In a message dated 2/28/2000 5:20:40 PM Eastern Standard Time, Aldyth at aol.com 
writes:

<< Is there a particular time or place where serving feasts all day long came 
to 
 be?  It seems that for the past 6 months a couple of our groups in the 
 Outlands are insisting on this "period" practice.  I am referring to the 
 feast starting at noon, with a course every two hours or so, until 8-10 in 
 the evening.  The feasts have not been well received, nor have they been 
 particularly "good" >>


In period, the main meal of the day, the "feast", was served any time between 
about 11 am and 2 pm, and could last for hours on a festive occasion (among 
other references, Woolgar, C. M.  The Great Household in Late Medieval England
.  Yale University Press, copyright 1999.)  Even on a normal day there might 
be several sittings to accomodate the entire household.   So serving the meal 
during the day is certainly a period practice, in fact more period than 
beginning it at 6 pm or later as we usually do.

As autocrat, I had the cooks prepare such a feast for our shire Twelfth Night 
two years ago.  Both the cooks and the populace considered it a great 
success.  The cooks were pleased that they could concentrate on two dishes at 
a time rather than 8 or 10, and the populace was amazed at the fact that food 
just kept appearing.  We had very little left.

Brangwayna Morgan