SC - A question of re-creation

[RANDALL DIAMOND]

Constanza wrote:
>>>>a judge on one of my liqueurs marked me 
down for not having grown my own cardamom.  
When I asked her about the comment she said 
that she had looked at my cooking entries and
noticed that I grew my own ingredients there 
and expected the same of the spices in my 
brewing entries<<<<

While I do not know all of the circumstances
involved in the comments of this judge on your
entry, it sounds to me like a "self appointed
expert".  I would love to see HER documentation
on her qualifications to be judging your entry.

Assuming your report of the judge's comments
are reasonably close to an accurate quotation
of the comments, I offer the following opinion:
If you should see this same judge again
anytime soon, please pass on this advice
from me to her and give her my email 
address, should you feel the situation of
the judging deserves it:

"Mi' Lady,
If you expect spices like cardamom to be grown 
by entrants in SCA brewing competitions,  you are 
obviously acting like an ignorant and inconsiderant
dingbat, and are not qualified to be judging IMO.
I HAVE grown cardamom and to successfully
make it bloom and bear seeds requires careful 
recreation of a semi-tropical environment and lighting 
conditions to allow it to grow to the 12 or more 
FEET in height at maturity for the adequate production 
of the spice seeds.  This requires access to a
rather large greenhouse facility and about three
years for the plant to reach a size to bear seed.
Similar requirements (or longer and more difficult ones)
apply for cinnamon, nutmegs , etc..  The cooks IN
PERIOD did not grow their own spices; why
should you have such inane and ludicrous 
requirements for SCA entrants to do so?  Get
off your high horse and get a clue!"

Akim Yaroslavich

End note.

I have no idea whom this person is or their
expertise or rank but I would rip them up one side
and down the other for those kinds of comments
about an entry in a competition I was running. 
If this person is a laurel or titular royal, I will be 
happy to put her on my personal list of 
"Tin Hat Gestapo to Avoid At All Costs"
because she sure sounds like she belongs 
there.

>>>>> There aren't a lot of better ways to 
understand the thinking and behavior
of a period person than to work as they 
worked, and I can't be too critical of anyone 
because they learned to do [part of] the work 
of several.<<<<

While I can agree in many parts to the comments of
Adamantius above,  the experiences of the non-European
person who grew the cardamom spices (or other spice)
has NO bearing on the skill of the European cook or brewer
in period using said product. Likewise, knowledge and 
experience of the gatherers of pollen of saffron crocus in Spain 
cannot make a period English chef more effective as a cook.  
It is simply IRRELEVANT to the value of the finished product.
I feel Constanza was treated most unfairly in this instance.

Akim Yaroslavich
"No glory comes without pain"