[Sca-cooks] Inexpen$ive [not-cheap] feast.

[Mark.S Harris]

Ru said:
> lets talk about a "cheap" meal.
>
> They got the site for almost free
> [ a donation], a cafeteria/kitchen in a school. Season of this event is late
> summer/ early fall.

The site fee should be set to cover the site. The feast fee should not
be covering the site fee unless it is an all-in-one package deal. So a
cheap site shouldn't impact the feast costs.

> I guess we should set some ground rules..... first of feast ticket price @
> $4.50 [ that will get a draw around here] and meal cost not to exceed $3.50
> [ about a one dollar profit]. Three removes, each a country theme,  your
> choice. No particular period or time. Service for 100, with paying guest 90,
> maybe 95.

Unless you can get some donations, it really seems like it would be
difficult meeting both the target price and the quality/quantity goals.
However, the canton (now shire) just to our south had some events where
they got substantial portions of their feasts donated.

> The preamble to this suggested feast should include "Lessons Learned" or at
> least links to the into good SCA sources { #1 Floury-thingy}. Like ... make
> friends with the local meat monger. Get an employee of a grocery store to
> *join* the SCA. Send a "RFQ" [ Request for Quote] to several stores, offer
> them the whole package & a "Thank you, mention" on the menu.
> Foods: meat, fish, fowl, veggies, fruits, breads, enough that a SCAdian
> would be happy. Maybe a soup [broth] that is a by-product of the
> 'Meat-fish-fowl",[ water is cheap].

Since you asked :-), here is what is in the Florilegium:
in the FEASTS section:
HC-butchers-art   (13K) 10/ 4/97    For Headcooks - How to work with
your local
                                       butcher.
headcooks-msg    (155K)  5/17/01    Advice for SCA headcooks. Planning
feasts.

In the FOOD section:
broths-msg        (48K)  6/ 4/01    Broths in period recipes.
Substitutions.
  (lots of good info on making broths from "scraps". Real good for folks
like
me who are used to opening a can or a packet to make a broth)

food-sources-msg  (53K)  3/26/01    Modern sources for unusual medieval
meats
                                       and other foods.
 (I don't think all of these are specialty stores, which do tend to be
higher priced)

Pasta can be done cheaply and can be presented elegantly if done right.
Medievl-Pasta-art  (7K) 10/24/00    "Medieval Pasta!" by Lady Jehanne de
                                       Huguenin.
pasta-msg         (82K)  3/20/01    Period pasta. Period references.
Recipes.
pasta-stufed-msg  (33K)  3/20/01    Period stuffed pasta dishes.
Ravioli.

Stews or soups can also be cheap:
soup-msg         (101K)  1/31/01    Medieval soups. Cooking soups at
events.
                                       recipes.
stews-bruets-msg  (65K)  5/24/00    Period stews and bruets. Recipes.
  (in the FOOD-MEATS section)

If you are looking for feast menu examples, take a look at some of the
feasts described in the FEASTS section. I don't know of any that meet
your other requirements exactly though.

Since you said this was a new group, they might also be interested in
these files in the SCA-INC section:
fundraising-msg   (48K)  4/21/98    Fundraising ideas for SCA groups.
  (here are some other methods that have worked for other groups)
recruitment-msg   (43K)  5/18/00    Recruitment ideas. bringing in new
members.
new-groups-msg    (18K)  7/17/96    Procedures and advice on starting
new SCA
                                       groups.
  (I don't know how far along the group is in its 'incipient' status,
but
maybe this will help).

Since these files are online, perhaps you can simply print this out for
them, indicate the files can be found at: http://www.florilegium.org
and they can use this to get started.

Stefan li Rous
stefan at texas.net