[Sca-cooks] Royal Buffet post-mortem

[Pixel, Queen of Cats]

On Wed, 11 Jul 2001, Michael Gunter wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I managed to complete and serve my Royal Buffet
> at Ansteorra Coronation last weekend. I learned
> a few interesting things.
>
[snip]
>
> The carrot salad, lentils, chicken and camelyne sauce
> were practically untouched. They were all very tasty
> and I'm not sure why they weren't eaten.
>
> I know the Royals and entourage ate quite a bit of it
> because they were starving by the time I had it set up
> and I assisted them in describing the dishes and such.
> I've heard that the Royals of Trimaris also ate from it.
>
> But I think that most of it was eaten by the children
> that were running fairly unsupervised all through the
> area. Most of the dishes eaten were things that could
> easily be grabbed and eaten without a plate and it was
> all slices of roast beef and the sweet items.
>
> Although fighters seem to have pretty much the same
> tastes as children.  ;-)
>
> I had to attend duties in Coronation as Royalty and
> Chivalry so I didn't get an accurate assessment of who
> ate what. The food was left out for hungry courtiers
> to grab when they had the chance. It seems that nobody
> wanted to fill the plates I had provided. I've usually
> not had this problem with buffets before so was surprised
> that only "finger foods" were eaten.
>
> Too bad more people didn't try the other stuff. The carrots
> were a wonderful fresh tasting summer salad and the lentils
> were rich and smooth. The camelyne sauce went very well
> with the beef as well.
>
> But at least people got fed and Their Majesties said They
> recieved several compliments on it.
>
> Gunthar


It sounds like the classic situation of 'we're trying to do five things at
once, and a plate just gets in the way' that you usually get at events
like Coronations. It is much easier to grab a nibble each time you walk by
the buffet than to 'waste' the time taken to sit down with a plate and a
utensil and actually eat. You see, eating wastes time which could be
better spent doing other things. Nibbling on the run isn't eating. ;-)

Was the chicken cut up into small pieces suitable for grabbing and
nibbling, or was it whole breasts? In my experience with royalty rooms,
buffets, and weddings, big pieces like breasts are a 'sit-down' type of
food, and thus much less attractive than small pieces.

Sauces tend to only get eaten if they are of a smooth and dippable
consistency, you have to make it really obvious that *this* sauce is meant
to go with *that* food item, and even then, over half the food in question
will not be eaten with the sauce on it.

Margaret FitzWilliam