SC - RE: Seeking comments/More info

[Debra Hense]

Hmmm.

We're running an Iron Chef based competition in Calontir at the end-of-April.  We're giving the rules we set up for a --guild-sponsored-- IronChef competition a trial run.

At one point, we discussed making the results be feast.  Some of the problems the guildmembers had with making the competition food results be feast are listed below, along with some additional comments relevant to your stated plans:

- - while you know how many teams are signed up in advance, you cannot predict that everyone on the team will show up the day of the event.  If only two people show up from a six-person team, guess who's stuck doing an awful lot of extra work.  What if one of the teams decides not to show up? Who picks up the slack? Where did the fun go?

- - The guild wanted to encourage everyone to partcipate - especially those who had never partcipated in a competition before or are still fairly new to period or open-fire cookery.  Telling them the results of their efforts would also be feast would scare off too many people resulting in fewer teams.

- - timeline for the competition where the results would be served at feast would consume the entire day.  The competition would then not allow the team members to partcipate in any other activities at the event.  Really cuts down on the fun factor.  And, would probably limit the number of fighters who would otherwise participate.   I know you stated they could make much of it in advance - does this mean that you would be then serving a mostly room-temp or cold food for feast?

- - judging would become a feat unto itself - more so than normal.  Do they judge the food before it is served to the feasters in the hall, thus causing the food to be served at cooler or warmer than desired?  Or would the judge's all be seated at one table and served at the same time as the rest of the feasters?  Would the feasters then be able to hear the judges comments over the feasters digging in?  

- - part of the fun of IronChef is watching what dishes they come up with on the spur of the moment.  Pre-assigning categories kinda cuts down on that aspect.  In our rules, we decided each team has to come up with a minimum of three dishes - one of which could be considered to be a main-dish item - be it meat, dairy, or vegan based.  The other two are team-choice.  

- - also, letting them know what the surprise ingredient is in advance cuts down on the day-of fun factor for the audience.  

- - what about the announcers/talking heads?  If you only have two teams participating, and they are cooking all day long to produce a meal for feast, you kinda let everyone else (ie: the potential audience) out in the cold.  

These are just my thoughts on the subject.  They are not meant to be an attack on your idea/plan.  But, it does seem to me more like you are planning a seige feast competition rather than an IronChef competition.

If you want to check out the rules the Calontir Cookery guild came up - they are located at:  
http://www.geocities.com/athens/acropolis/4756/cguildh.htm 

We tried to design a set of competition rules that would encourage folks to join a team, or to come by and watch, and offer encouragement to their favorite teams.   We want everyone to have fun, and to gently push more people into the --Gee, period cookery is fun-- mode of thinking along with --I got to enter the next IronChef competition.--

Kateryn de Develyn

Stealth period cookery - 
Promoting period cookery methods and use of period recipe sources by disguising it as fun.