SC - More Grist for the Mill

[maddie teller-kook]

Here in ansteorra there are no set rules concerning listing ingredients.  A
number of the cooks do it.  One reason, it decreases the number of people
coming to the kitchen asking if they can eat feast due a food allergy or
intolerance.  I usually have the list posted right outside the kitchen.  I
will have the feast menu posted at the gate.

Since a number of dishes are cooked ahead of time, its easy to just list the
ingredients as one makes the dishes. The list is typed and ready by the day
of the feast.  While this isn't fool proof, it is also important to avoid
cross contamination of different dishes in the kitchen (using the same spoon
to stir different dishes, etc).

Meadhbh

- ----- Original Message -----
From: Christine A Seelye-King <mermayde at juno.com>
To: <SCA-Cooks at ansteorra.org>
Sent: Sunday, March 12, 2000 9:31 PM
Subject: SC - More Grist for the Mill


> I wrote to a gentleman in our group, Master Cathal MacEdan, to ask him
> about the law regarding posting of feast ingredients.  Cathal has been
> Kingdom Seneschal, Society Steward, and was on the committee to name
> dirt.  We not-so-jokingly refer to him as the SCA Rules Lawyer.  He has
> also mundanely worked as an insurance adjuster.  As you can see from his
> reply below, I was mistaken about this being in our law.  His idea was
> that it may have come down from a former Kingdom Seneschal who had many
> food allergies.
> Our correspondance:
>
> Dear Cathal,
> > I don't know where my copy of Kingdom Law is, but I know you have
> yours close to hand ;) I am under the impression that there is a
> provision in MKL about posting feast ingredients in their entirety in the
> hall.  Could you find this passage for me?
> > Thank you,
> > Christianna
>
> If such a provision exists in MKL, then it must be written in
> lemon juice and readable only by candlelight.  I've reviewed both
> the March 1998 hard copy edition as well as the on-line version
> updated though 1/2000, and there is nothing to that effect.
>
> Cathal.
>
> However, in talking about this to him later on, he put forward the
> opinion that if such a thing were to be legislated, it would put the
> group at an untenable risk as far as the insurance was concerned.  If you
> posted such a list, and then deviated from it for whatever reason, and
> that deviation resulted in someone eating something they considered safe
> (based on your published list) and having a reaction to the ingredient
> that got added at the last minute, you are now liable for a lawsuit.  If
> it is in writing in Kingdom or Society law, the umbrella of the group
> would be liable.  If not, the individual who did the posting and then
> deviating would be liable.  I questioned him specifically about this
> point.  I asked, if the group does not have it in writing, but as cooks
> we take it upon ourselves to encourage this practice as a Good Thing, we
> are still liable?  Yes, we are.  I pointed out to him that at least one
> other Kingdom did have it in Kingdom law, and he opined that it had not
> been put to this kind of a test yet.  Of course, this is the sort of
> thing you sign your waiver for, but we all know they aren't worth the
> paper they are printed on, you just cannot sign away your right to sue
> for damages.
> So, the obvious answer being, post your list and don't deviate from it,
> but still, how concerned should we be/are we about the possible legal
> ramifications of this action?
> This should stir up some lively conversation, which is good, things have
> gotten so quiet around here ;)
> No flames please, but I do think this is a topic worth some serious
> consideration.  It is a shame we have to take such precautions, but with
> our litigious society, we can't afford not to.
> Christianna
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