SC - Re: Medieval Times

[RANDALL DIAMOND]

>>>>If you have never been, how can you say the food is lousy, and the
fighting
rehashed?  I would suggest that you take in at least one show, funds
allowing.  It is a lot of fun, if you can turn off the
Holier-than-Thou, My-Garb-Is-Better-Than-Your-Garb
shtick, and appreciate it for what it is.<<<<

Balthazar, I appreciate your input on this
list and will always listen/read your suggestions.
However, I did not particularly care for the
"Holier-than-Thou" comment.  Not angry, just
a bit disappointed in you.  First, I was attempting
humour, yes.  It was you who set up the standard
for "casting stones".  Sorry if it came across to
you as bragging.

I feel I can say the food is lousy without going
because people whose opinions on this list
that I feel are credulous judges of food have
said so.  The menus published are not to my
personal liking either as my food of choice.
I also have seen features on these shows on
TV and I was underwhelmed to say the least.  The
warehouse environment surrounded by a sea of
parking hardly sets a medieval atmosphere entering
the place, and as an architect, I think I can safely
say that the clearspan unistrut building cannot possibly
evoke any feeling of accuracy as a medieval hall.  The
mellow candlelight and close comradery of an SCA
feast may not be accurate historically either, any more
than the Tom Jones feasting scene years ago.   But I
am more likely to imagine that I am back in the Middle
Ages there, eating well prepared, mostly period food, than
wearing a paper crown with a medieval rodeo before me.

As to my wearing garb, my post refered to Ren Faires,
not Medieval Times.   For many years, my local group
participated at the local State Ren Faire and we did
have to come in garb.  Also for several years, I ran
a merchant booth at this Faire as a "local".  My group
and I both got fed up with the promoters running it
and the hastle about costuming (Elizabethan being
di rigor with the Rennies).  Well, Elizabethan in the
early summer in the south is _just_plain_dumb!
Fortunately, the owner of the property on which the
Faire is held has fired these jerks and taken over
running it himself again.  Huzzah!  He is a good
friend and mainly wants to please his patrons as
much as he can.   Some of the folks I had problems
with were no better than Carney pros in slops and
a ruff.

As to the last part of your critique,
>>>>As for your garb being completely period, kudos
to you.  However, do you know for certain that the
folks who made the fabric, linen, leather and such
used period methods and dyes during fabrication?<<<<

I have grown and rotted and beaten out my own flax for linen.
I do not have an adequate loom or time to weave my own.
I have grown my own period dye plants and used them in garb,
but again one must balance the effort with the worth of the result.
This is as true in our attempts to duplicate period cooking as
much as it is in costuming.   Anyone who wants to exactly duplicate
the terribly expensive period fabrics worn by medieval kings and
dukes for ordinary SCA wear has more money than brains.  If
you aregoing to that much trouble for museum quality
reproduction, you deserve much praise for your sucess and skill,
but for heaven's sake make sure the results reach a sufficiently
informed and appreciative audience to make it worthwhile.
This can be museum display, a paper on the process of
making it published, or serving an accurate period dish to
people whose palates go beyond happy meals at Mickey-D's.
This, I trust, is what makes the SCA worthwhile to many folks.
It certainly is to me.

Lastly, I have opinions equally as stong as yours and I
seldom fear to state them when I deem it appropriate.
This is true whether the forum is a cooking discussion
or on computer virus felonies.   I see the posts in fairly
large numbers on the list and they are often off topic,
so I put my two pence (perhaps a couple of crowns, pounds
and sovereigns to boot sometimes) as well.
If I am out of line, whack me on the nose with a rolled
up newspaper and say "Bad, Akim, bad!"  But I hope
I never resort to personal insult as that degrades the
author much more than the subject IMO.
Peace.

Akim