SC - Accommodating low-carb and other groups at feast (WAS Re: meating a feast) (LONG)

[Adler, Chris]

Lady Aleska of Caerleon said:

>>There is one big advantage to vegetable based dishes compared to meat
dishes-- cost!  Meat and related proteins can be expensive.

On the whole, yes, but I gently suggest that it depends upon which veggies
you buy. I made a leek dish for my last feast, and the 8 pounds of leeks I
bought were about $35. That made enough for about a quarter-cup portion per
person at a 180-person feast (but since it was the third course, that was an
appropriate portion). That's fairly expensive for *one* ingredient in terms
of my entire shopping list.

In comparison, the 20 pounds of frozen peas I bought for an earlier course
were much more economical at about $10 and the 15 pounds of dried chickpeas
were dirt-cheap at $6, and each made HUGE portions... but the salad cost
about $45 for all the different lettuces, fresh herbs, and edible flowers.
This doesn't include the extremely high-quality balsamic vinegar and extra
virgin olive oil I got for dressing the salad (at about $30 each).  (I'm in
upstate New York, btw.)

Yes, the meats totaled about a third to half of my total budget ($140 for 80
pounds of beef, $50 for 30 pounds of chicken, $75 for 20 pounds of rabbit),
but I suggest that it's not so much *vegetable-based* dishes that are
cheaper than meat than it's *grain-based* dishes that are so much cheaper:
pasta, rice, bread, etc. I bought 25 pounds of rice for about $6 and ended
up using only about half of it... so my barony has enough rice for one or
two more events! 

I'm not pointing this out to argue with you, good milady, so much as to
clarify this for newer cooks who may be trying to figure out how to balance
a menu from both economic and aesthetic standpoints. Please do not take this
as criticism of your otherwise good advice! <smile>

>>This brings me to another interesting side topic, the Glucose Intolerant
Feast goer-- or the fad Low-Carber.  Anyone else here have any of those in
their flock? <snip> I'd be interested to hear if anyone else has dealt with
the low carb issue at
feasts, be it for health or fad reasons.

Yes, I've dealt with it quite successfully at feasts, since there are many
low-carbers and some diabetics in my area and especially since I was a
modified low-carber myself for a year and lost 30 pounds that way.

I personally view low-carbers -- for the purposes of balancing a feast -- in
the same category as carnivores and diabetics. Allow me to explain: I try to
plan my menus first to recreate actual period menus as much as possible,
then to accommodate four rough groups of people -- ovo-lacto vegetarians,
carnivores/low-carb/diabetics, lactose-intolerants, and Jews. (If I serve
pork or bacon, I ensure that I serve something a major dish which they can
eat and that all the cooking equipment is carefully cleaned before being
used for preparing others dishes. 

I also do this for chicken -- a friend who is now the baron of a neighboring
group is deathly allergic to chicken and eggs and hasn't gone onboard for
years because eggs and chicken stock are used in so many things. He's
basically low-carb by default, because there's so few baked goods he can
safely eat. This was the first feast he was attending in a VERY long time,
so I ensured that everything in the kitchen was bleached after we prepped
the chicken dish, and cooked one pound of the peas in water rather than in
chicken stock so that he, the former king (a strict vegetarian), and a
fencer I know who is also a strict vegetarian could partake of that dish as
well. Both were very appreciative of this rather small effort on my staff's
part to ensure that everyone had a full and pleasant meal.) 

The simple assumption on my part is that carnivores want big, honking slabs
of rare dead cow without "any extraneous green stuff," low-carbers want
protein without starches, and diabetics want dishes without sugar. All three
kind of fit into one category, if you see what I mean? Nutritionally, this
isn't accurate, of course, but it works for me in terms of planning a menu
to accommodate the major "allergy" criteria in my area and my experience. 

I generally plan two substantial meat dishes (ensuring that at least one
doesn't contain anything sweet or dairy) without carbs directly on them
(such as sweet sauces on the side), and one major substantial non-meat dish,
which may be a legume but is more often than not is a dairy dish to provide
non-meat protein. This also ensures that picky eaters can eat dishes more
simply as they choose, and adventurous eaters have the opportunity to try
the sauces. For instance, I made a chickpea dish last weekend which had no
diary, sugar, or meat in it. It was light but flavorful with olive oil and
spices. When you stirred in a spoonful of one of the four sauces (cameline,
jance, green garlic, and mustard), it was divine!

I try to split up the menu's various starches and vegetables -- half dairy
and half non-dairy; half with meat flavoring, half without; half sweet, half
not sweet, etc. And of course, I ensure that salt/certain
spices/onions/nuts/fruit aren't in every dish, as a matter of commonsense!
<grin>

It's generally not that difficult, and it's part of the fun of planning a
menu. Occasionally, depending upon the cuisine I'm doing for a particular
feast, I need to prepare a small amount of a dish without an ingredient
(such as the peas sans chicken stock), but usually I can plan a
well-balanced menu without any special exceptions.

Of course, the most important thing to all this is that I print booklets of
my menu, full recipes, and research, and leave half of them at Troll, post a
menu at the door to the kitchen, and try to leave the other half of the
booklets on the tables so that gentles can easily determine what they can
safely eat. I also try to post my menu to my kingdom or at least baronial
listbot beforehand, so people can make informed decisions as to whether
they'll go onboard (and hopefully preregister!!!).

As I've often said, the only thing I can't easily accommodate when planning
a menu are people who are concerned with eating low-fat dishes. If you're
trying to prepare moderately accurate medieval food based on the cookbooks
we have of food for nobility, it's not going to be very low-fat. Salads and
bread are usually relatively safe. If someone asks me politely before the
event to reserve some of the steamed vegetable BEFORE I add the savory
toasted cheese sauce, I'll gladly do it. If they come stomping into the
kitchen two hours before the feast demanding they can't eat anything, I
politely direct them to the troll for a refund and directions to a
restaurant of their choice... but that's a whole other discussion which this
list has quite effectively beaten to death on numerous occasions! <smile>

Her Ladyship Katja Davidova Orlova Khazarina
Barony of Thescorre, Kingdom of AEthelmearc