SC - Who you callin' an 'abomination'?

[James F. Johnson]

Jenne Heise wrote:

> Um. Why do people want to use a term for a non-cooking position (Steward)
> for the person in charge of cooking (not just ordering/setting out) the
> feast?

Looking through the definitions you provided, I would say the
'feastocrat' or 'kitchen steward' as used in the SCA hereabouts refers
to a person that has both offices, that of chief cook and steward. That
person not only cooks the meal, but decides on the menu and budget,
oversees expenses, often does the shopping, and then supervises the
kitchen staff. If it's a small feast and there's no hall steward, then
they're supervising the servers (or the volunteers from each table if no
designated servers - horrid practice :) )

When I have been the kitchen steward, I have cooked relatively little of
the feast, and most of that is pre-event, off site preperation. I mostly
direct others in the actual cooking of the food, be they the actual
staff I organized earlier, or those wonder 'volunteers' who cross the
threshold looking for something else....:>

Which raises the question: in the normal noble household, how much
autonomy did the head cook have in deciding the menu for a special
meal/feast? Or does the steward, some other officer of the household, or
one of the family decide the menu? When I say normal household, I mean
one that has not procured the service of a renowned cook with a
reputation.

Seumas
- -- 
Roi ne suis prince, ni duc, ni comte aussi; je suis sire de
Bruyerecourt.