[Sca-cooks] Pennsic Iron Chef Results

[Dunbar, Debra]

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OK, OK!
When I wrote "I find it hard to believe that cooking competitions aren't
period", I was simply musing out loud;  expressing surprise at the idea that
rivalries would NOT have resulted in some "contest" like - "I'll have my
cook whip up something with a brace of quail Tuesday, then send a brace of
quail over to your kitchen for Wednesday, and we and a few friends will eat
both suppers and see whose cook is really the better."  Do I think two cooks
got together in a huge "kitchen stadium" with an audience and a panel of
judges for a cookoff?  No.  But these are just my THOUGHTS based on my
eclectic background and readings.  I would have referred to documentation if
I had been citing something.  In the future I will try very hard to preface
all these opinions by "IMO" so there is no further confusion.

This is really 2 different discussions - an academic one on the history of
cooking rivalries and whether they would have (or did) manifested some type
of "contest", and an administrative one on how the SCA can better use
cooking "contests" to excite and interest members to explore historical
cooking in the context of the SCA.  Lots of things the SCA does aren't
"period", but are vehicles to allow and encourage people to pursue "period"
activities.

BTW- I'm primarily a craftsperson. The kitchen was the most important room
during my childhood, and it still is!  Food has lots of social and cultural
implications for me and one of my great joys in life is preparing a
wonderful meal for friends and family to enjoy.  I don't hate research, but
it's not one of my top 100 things to do. I'm hoping that activities like
cooking contests, this thread, etc. will inspire me to actually spend some
time documenting a few recipes here and there.

Wrynne
Oh, I'm cooking Saturday night dinner at Kingdom Crusades for a group of
friends - if anyone wants to stop by and visit I'll let them be my taster!
I promise I won't poison anyone!  I get lonely stiring the pot by myself
will everyone is off fighting the war.