[Sca-cooks] Kitchens

[Ted Eisenstein]

>>Kitchens? Pfth. What I want is a market at Pennsic, selling fresh veggies
>>(period only) and bread and meat. But I'd make allowances for sweet
>>corn. ;-)
>I've heard this several times lately.  It seems that people would
>*really* appreciate this.  Is there any reason why it hasn't been
>organised in the past?  I can imagine that refrigeration might be
>difficult for merchants, so that's definitely an issue for those who
>might sell meat or dairy products, but it shouldn't limit most other
>types of food being sold.
>
>I'd like to be able to buy bread, dry goods (grains and flour and so
>on), spices, vegetables, meat (up to and including whole carcasses of
>various animals, and charcuterie), dairy, baked goods such as pies and
>pastries, comfits and sweetmeats, wines... oh hell, *everything*.  But
>I'd settle for bread, basic dairy, vegetables and preserved meats.
Refrigeration isn't needed for fruits and vegetables? You ever seen
how fast lettuce can wilt at Pennsic?
_At_ Pennsic? You'd need to be sure to develop a good working
relationship with the Penn. Department of Agriculture, or the Dept. of
Health, whichever inspects food places - and from what I gather, they're
somewhat more rather than less strict.
You'd also have to get past the Coopers, who own and run the camp
store; by the merchant rules they put out every year, that's the only
place on site you can get a lot of foodstuffs and camping material.
(You can go off-site for it, obviously - but on site, it's the camp store
or nothing.)
It's a major profit center for them. That's one reason. Other reasons
(off the top of my head) they wouldn't go for it are the health issues
(as noted above); the problem of more frequent large trucks trundling
up that tiny road onto site (the portapotty trucks are bad enough, but
add in food trucks? Oy!); even more electricity (on a site that doesn't
always have dependable sources); health issues; liquor licenses (even
for wine); reliable refrigeration for the milk; health issues. . .

(Well, if electricity's that unreliable, how does the camp store manage, then,
eh? Simple: an emergency generator that's run off a tractor, that powers
just the camp store and, if memory serves, the bath house. Would you
want to pay several thousand dollars for a good working tractor and
a spare generator, for emergency power to a milk-house that's needed
only two weeks a year? The Coopers need those things - but the Coopers
are also in business 52 weeks a year. . . )

Alban, who, when he wants fresh! fresh! fresh! food, does what everyone
else does: spends 15 minutes to go into New Castle, or asks his neighbors
to get a couple of items. . . Of course, I also eat a lot at the Food Court. . .