SC - questions/kinda long, sorry

[Nick Sasso]

> the issue to me is whether a Feastcook should be encouraged to
> more period food, as they go along.
> You and others are, whether you know it or not, perpetuating several
> largely unproven stereo types about period food, which are implicit in
> our argument.
> I am objecting to that perpetuation.
> among these are "period food is Yucky", "period food is unrecognizable",
> "period food is expensive", "period food tastes different", and the
> biggest canard of all: "Modern palates are not used to period food"

This dog bit me.                     All p is q
This dog has rabies.                 All p is r
Therefore, all dogs have rabies.      All q is r

Seriously flawed logical form (classical fallacy, in fact) that wanders
in and out of this argument unintended.  It also wanders in and out of
people's minds elsewhere unintended.  we as humans look for convenient,
sensible explanations for our world.  This one is awfully convenient and
is deceptively sensible.

This meal sucks/tastes bad/is overly expensive/is boring, etc.
This meal is advertised as period
All period food sucks/tates bad/is overly expensive/is boring, etc.

I hate the fact that this logical fallacy is pervasive.  Instead of
digging beyond the face of the experience to the skill of cook, the
crises in the kitchen, the bizarre tastes of the menu planners, it is
simply lumped in as a 
This man was rude and insensitive.
This man is a peer/dignitary.
All peers/dignitaries are rude and insensitive.

Not the preferred thought process, but it jumps right in when there is
no better explanation around.  We gotta be careful what we say to new
folks about "groups"/classifications of people, because they get
attributed quite easily.  Keep a look out for this fallacy in the case
you make, and challenge yourself to look beyond.

Ras made a comment espousing cooking accuracy.
Ras made a comment about cooking accuracy that was seen as rude.
All comments about cooking accuracy are to be seen as rude.
(shudder . . . not Ras' puppy to feed, it's the listener who must avoid
the fallacy)

> <<SNIP>>
> Once again, there is no "bad" food, but cooks that prepare food "badly".
> I think the error lies more in the fault of those cooks trying poorly
> interpreted recipes, put together in a very unprepared or haphazard
> fashion, just because they were "period". And not having pretrials of
> new recipes is just not acceptable in my book!

DISAGREE -- bell peppers are bad food.  No matter the cuisine, no matter
the dish, they are horrible, hideous creations that should never have
been made foodstuff.  I hate it as it crunches the colorful creativity
available, but it is my "truth" :o)


niccolo difrancesco