[Sca-cooks] Pennsic Iron Chef Results

[Linda M. Kalb]

At 12:21 PM 8/28/01, you wrote:

> >I suspect, though, that the
> > official line would be that all those cooks who aren't lazy
> > good-for-nothings strive to be the best they can because it pleases God
> > to see them serve their masters and know their proper place in the
> > world, as _everyone_ should.
>
>Unsupported and unsupportable assumpution flag!

You can accuse it of being speculation, but to me it does actually sound
consistent with what I know about period thinking.

> > And then, of course, there's the slightly post-period suicide of Vatel,
> > who both knew his place in the world, as well as the importance of it.
> > He would probably have laughed at the idea of a cooks' competition,
> > unless, of course, his master had made a bet, which would be an entirely
> > different matter.
>
>I'm not sure I see the difference in practical terms between a cook's
>competition set up by a bet and one set up without a bet?

There's a very important difference between cooks having a contest of their
own accord versus fulfilling a bet or whim by their masters.  In period, no
one was independent and autonomous in the way we understand and experience
it today in our democracies.  Everyone had a master, up to the king/chief
monarch, whose master was God.  Everyone except the king had an earthly
master.  That's why Shakespeare's players were the "Lord Chamberlain's
men."  Though in reality they operated very independently for their day,
they had to have a master.  Cooks served their masters, so if they
competed, it would be on their masters' bet, whim, or desire.

I don't know much about SCA structure yet so keep that in mind when you
read this next part:

So if you want to have a Known World cooks' tournament, I recommend having
the barons' cooks compete, then the winners would become the King's cook
and perhaps the Queen's cook the way I hear there are King's bards and
Queen's bards (say the meat cook would be King's cook, dessert/sotleties
cook could be Queen's cook), and then the Kings and Queens of different
kingdoms could have their cooks compete when they are together at some
"international" event, such as one of the Wars.  At whatever level you
start at, the peer or monarch in question will select a cook, just as
Chairman Kaga allegedly selected his Iron Chefs.  The selection process
would be up to the peer or monarch at that level.  The barons could, for
example, select a cook by having their own barony-wide competition under
the guise of calling for applicants for the job of "the Baron's cook" if
such a job does not already exist.

Inga/Linda

>-- Jadwiga Zajaczkowa
>jenne at fiedlerfamily.net OR jenne at tulgey.browser.net OR jahb at lehigh.edu
>"Are you finished? If you're finished, you'll have to put down the spoon."
>
>_______________________________________________
>Sca-cooks mailing list
>Sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
>http://www.ansteorra.org/mailman/listinfo/sca-cooks