SC - Period serving practices

[Philip & Susan Troy]

GUILLANEDV at aol.com wrote:
> 
> I served a Crown feast to 250 with only 45 minutes between courses and I got
> a lot of grief over the "delay."  And we had entertainment between courses as
> well (including presentation of an entire cooked lamb).  Total feast was 2.5
> hours in length and I was told it took too long.
> 
> I learned early that there will always be people to complain.

That's part of it. Another is that not all SCAdians (especially in
certain kingdoms!) accord sufficient importance to the food in a feast;
what has changed over the centuries is the nature of the balance between
subsistence, hunger, and what impresses. I think many of us who have
never, ever gone hungry are less likely to say, "Oooh, bread!!!" than
even the wealthier of our medieval counterparts. It seems as if a lot of
us are stoking up for our next between-meal period, not filling our
bellies after feeling it uncomfortably empty. What this translates to,
in some cases, is that the food part of the feast, as opposed to the
drinking (sometimes), dancing (frequently) flirting and politicking
(always), is considered by some The Curse of the Feasting Class. This is
not only disrespectful but also ignorant, but it is also how it is, in
_some_ cases.

Obviously it makes it very difficult for those who try even token
attampts at a more period pace for the feast, and for a cook with a
legitimate kitchen disaster to deal with, it can be disastrous. My own
experience has been that sometimes Royalty, sometimes the Landed Who-Ha,
will request there be a specific delay period. Often it is because
they're out there in the feast hall seeing what's going on, gauging
moods and getting a sense of how things look from the Front of the
House. I generally listen if asked to keep things moving out in a timely
fashion. Obviously people need to have time to eat, but you don't want
to lose them, and you will if you don't give them something to occupy
themselves that they _want_ to be occupied with.

Unless specifically requested differently, one way or another, I aim for
about 20 minutes between services. It's not my favorite way of doing it,
but at least they eat the stuff. <sigh>
 
Adamantius
- -- 
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com