SC - private cooks at events

[RichSCA at aol.com]

What an interesting concept. I do think that many cooks enjoy making the 
"something special" for the High Table, but I also know that waiting and 
waiting to serve the feast while the Royals do Royal things can make the 
populace short tempered and the cook feel unappreciated.   Can't feast start 
without "them" and be "surprised" when "they" drop by the manor for a visit 
and supper?

Rayne
Meridies


 

In a message dated 3/4/00 5:20:39 PM Central Standard Time, stefan at texas.net 
writes:

<< 
 Well, I think this idea has merits. If we are going to hold Royalty out as
 high and mighty and much more important than the rest of the populace then
 this make sense. I find it rather insulting for the populace to have to wait,
 sometimes hours, for the feast because the Royalty are not ready at the
 scheduled time. And this has happened in Ansteorra. At an outdoor feast,
 which was threatening rain, while the Queen waved to the gathered populace
 and continued her leisurely walk to the showers. I would have gone ahead
 and served the feast but the headcook wouldn't.
 
 With a private cook, the populace could have gotten food when it was
 originally scheduled and the Royal Cook could have then worried about
 the Royalty getting fed.
 
 There is a precedent. Many Royalty bring their own heralds to events.
 Perhaps because these Royal heralds are more attuned to how Their
 Majesties prefer to handle court. If the Royalty don't like what is
 being served, then their cook. who is probably more attuned to their
 desires, can provide something else. They can just tell folks they
 are doing a special penitence or fast.
 
 As far as kitchen space goes, this has a similar problem to holding a
 mass, maybe non-period feast, for the populace and another smaller period
 feast for those interested in it, in that kitchen space may not be
 sufficent. However, food for the Royalty should not require as much
 preperation space as another feast for a larger number of people. 
 Because of their Royal stature, they could probably get more space
 than an equal division would be. ie: more than 10/100s or 10/300s
 of the kitchen that the Royal Entourage represents in numbers.
 
 Stefan
  (Not entirely tongue-in-cheek)
 -- 
 Lord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
 Mark S. Harris             Austin, Texas           stefan at texas.net
 **** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org **** >>