SC - Kitchen Authorization

[Bonne of Traquair]

>I don't know about you, but I think regulating kitchen help will pretty 
>much
>drive away our volunteers.

Maybe, maybe not.  I have heard people say they don't help in the kitchen 
because they don't know how.  Relying on the enough members of the populace 
to show up at the kitchen door, with skills, interest and proper clothing 
doesn't always work, and there is not always time/personel/space to give 
crash courses.

>Give someone the power to regulate something that is working but requires
>common sense, and the end result is that it won't work, and we lose a 
>chance
>to teach someone what common sense really is!
>
>Don't authorize them. Teach them!!
>
>Andrea M.

The authorization process is meant to organize the teaching process.  
Common-sense is only common to those with experience.  An astonishing number 
of people have think that heating food is cooking.

I'm not generally in favor of the idea of required training sessions and 
multi-authorizations.  But, I can think of a few such which already exist.

- - As part of the Pages schools. These seem keen to award tokens according to 
some  scheme of advancement.  I think one could easily come up with set of 
tasks that would take a couple of events worth of 'classes' culminating in a 
token denoting said Page as able to responsibly take on kitchen duties.   
Those taking the course to keep busy at an event would stretch it out one 
topic at a time, those with experience could fly through it in a day.

- -Within a cook's guild.  Again, those with previous experience can pass it 
all at once and move on, those with less experience would take as much 
longer as needed.  If the guild otherwise doesn't actively train members and 
actively cook as a group, then adding this process probably won't add to the 
fun and usefulness of the guild, so it's not an idea for every guild.

- -Within a household that regularly feeds it's members, such training might 
be good.  As above, what enhancments such a plan would offer over chance 
training would depend on the group.

- -Offering a class at University or at local meetings in kitchen safety, 
equipment handling and sanitation has been done in the past.  I only 
recently learned that it is possible to get some sort of attaboy after 
taking enough classes in related topics at Atlantian University, so there is 
already a mechanism there for a regular cycle of kitchen and food related 
classes ending with some sort of recognition.   The offering of the classes 
regularly by the University is a good thing generally.  That anyone might 
get some sort of 'credit' for it if all are taken is incidental.   Better to 
work within this system, with the token meaning only that you've taken a set 
of classes, rather than try to create something mimicing fighter 
authorizations in style and importance.

Bonne
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