SC - Perspectives on Recipe Adaptation (was: ALCOHOL IN FOOD)

[Alderton, Philippa]

Bernadette was discussing her allergy vs her religious beliefs, relating to
feasts, mushrooms, and alcohol.

B, one of the problems you're dealing with on the parts of those of us who
do not share your beliefs, is the fact that with mushrooms, you have no
choice- if you eat them you're going to get sick, but with alcohol, folks
will tend to feel, "Ah, a little bit won't hurt, you can cheat just this one
time", kinda like when they cheat on their diets. This is also increased by
the fact that most of us know Jewish folk who observe their dietary
restrictions to various degrees- I know non-observant Jews who eat anything
that doesn't move fast enough, to non-observant Jews who eat most things,
but are uncomfortable with the thought of a cream sauce on their pork chops,
to highly observant Jews who have two sets of dishes and even two kitchens
at home, but are perfectly happy eating lobster and pork-fried rice at a
Chinese restaurant because "it doesn't count", to the totally observant, who
wouldn't eat anything from someone else's kitchen if they were starving to
death (Ask our resident Jewish expert, my cousin Phillipa, if I'm kidding).

I also was turned on to one of my favorite wines by some visiting Moslem
friends, and another time spent a week trying to buy just one live chicken
so another Moslem friend could butcher it properly and actually eat meat for
a change on his visit over here from Indonesia.

Now, if I were inviting you over for dinner, and were aware of your dietary
restrictions, I wouldn't serve you, for example, coq au vin, as long as you
could deal with the fact that my family tradition is that we have a glass or
two of a good wine to complement a good meal. In the cooking, I might very
well make a new cutting board which had never been used for you to help cut
vegetables on so that you were assured that there was no cross contamination
of your food, if I also had decided that there were to be mushrooms served
at that meal. (Hey, another strong family tradition is that everyone helps
with the cooking- I've had some of my very best gossips with friends and
family, snapping green beans or stripping peas or cutting up cabbage for
saurkraut ;-).

Similarly, I'd avoid improper, non-period foods in a meal intended to feed
Cariadoc in persona, although David Friedman might well find himself eating
anything, if he were to dine from my kitchen- unless, of course he mentioned
some allergy or other.

Similarly, I wouldn't feed Adamantius eggplant, unless we'd agreed to
experiment with a recipe, any more than he'd feed me sweet bell peppers or
licorice, although all those items might be served as a part of a meal,
depending on which of us was cooking.

This is called Common Courtesy.

OTOH, at a Feast, the Cook is trying to feed a large number of people foods
which most of them can eat. If s/he is doing their job right, there should
be a lot of foods served, with a lot of variety, and not every dish should
contain, for example, nuts, mushrooms, alcohol in some form, or whatever.

Now, most Cooks are willing to accomodate for serious physical allergies,
and even (reluctantly, frequently) for vegans (that's another choice thing),
but the more items you can't eat, the fewer dishes they can readily adapt to
your preferences, so the more you and others can't eat, the fewer options
they have.

Now, I'm not saying that you're anything like the idjits who asked if the
entire feast could be spiced with nothing but parsley, since they were
allergic or disliked almost everything else, but one request, well before
feast is quite reasonable. 400 requests on the day of the feast is a bit
tough to deal with- the only safe thing to serve for everybody would be
distilled water, and I'm willing to bet we could find some gentles who'd
have an issue with the method of distillation ;-)

My suggestion to you is to plan well before hand. Start by asking the Head
Cook what is in the recipes, and what accomodations might be made for your
preferences and allergies. If they aren't willing to help, plan on eating
off-board, or bring your own food. If they're that intransigent, the feast
may very well be lousy anyway- why spend your money? Alternatively, if it
looks like you can eat most of feast, but not certain main items, bring
along some munchies- I never go to a feast by an unknown Cook without a
couple of hard-boiled eggs and some cheese in my pouch, in case of
emergencies- I don't have any dietary issues, but I HATE good food badly
prepared, and it shows up in feasts more than I'd prefer- anybody not know
what I mean by the Deadly Chicken?

As far as your kids go, I understand- haven't any of my own, so I tend to
spoil other folks' kids rotten ;-) If we're at an event together, I'll be
more than happy to sit them for a while- as long as I know what their
disabilities are, and how to deal with any weirdnesses which might occur, I
don't CARE if they aren't Standard TV American- I just like kids!

In the meantime, if you can make it to Pennsic, or happen to be passing
through SE Ohio, please feel free to stop by for a meal. I may not be rich,
but nothing tastes better than good food shared with friends ;-) Sharing, I
think, beats any spice discovered by humanity......


Phlip

Nolo disputare, volo somniare et contendere, et iterum somniare.

phlip at morganco.net

Philippa Farrour
Caer Frig
Southeastern Ohio

"All things are poisons.  It is simply the dose that distinguishes between a
poison and a remedy." -Paracelsus

"Oats -- a grain which in England sustains the horses, and in
Scotland, the men." -- Johnson

"It was pleasant to me to find that 'oats,' the 'food of horses,' were
so much used as the food of the people in Johnson's own town." --
Boswell

"And where will you find such horses, and such men?" -- Anonymous