[Sca-cooks] Dayboards

[Philip & Susan Troy]

Tara Sersen Boroson wrote:


> <rant>
> Unfortunately, there are many fighters who are just there to swing a
> stick, and don't consider a lesson in medieval food to be what they paid
> for.  If you cook well and consider the desire for finger food, they
> either don't notice or don't mind that their grub is both period and
> filling.


Agreed, many of them won't. But all other things being more or less
equal, isn't it worth it even if only one or two people come up to you
and say, "That's really interesting! Where did you get the idea for
that?" Then you can say, "As a matter of fact, I got it from the Liber
Cure Cocorum, a fifteenth-century northern English cookbook written
entirely in verse! Is that fwiggin' kewl or what?"

> But, if you ask their opinion before serving it, they'll make
> faces and gripe.


Ah, then, little grasshopper (figuratively and respectfully speaking) is
not the lesson here not to ask their opinion before serving it? ; )

Yes, I know this sounds quite arrogant, and perhaps I'm speaking from
the confidence of years of having carte-blanche trust from my group, but
you need to remember that you're sweating for these people, and that
they need you more than you need them. More or less.

> That's part of where the idea that fighters don't want
> a period dayboard comes from.  That and the people who are sure they
> know what fighters should be eating to stay healthy and feel it's their
> job to make sure you only serve them healthy fighter things.  Never mind
> that you can't make a fighter healthy in one meal, and the ones who need
> it most eat potato chips for dinner mundanely.  Also never mind that,
> while I don't fight, I do run several miles a day and lift weights and
> work out like a fiend (well, I've slowed down since getting pregnant,
> but normally) and concienciously keep a very good diet, so I have some
> idea of how to eat healthfully for exercise; Most of the people I hear
> complaining neither fight nor work out and don't normally have very good
> diets of their own.
> </rant>


You get extra points for the prompt. ; ) But, you see, you are the smart one in this situation. Never forget that. You are not the faceless slavey/functionary who gives the hogs their slop. Rather, you are the provider and leader, the loaf-kneader and loaf-giver (look up "lord" and "lady" in the dictionary, if anybody is having trouble with this, then see me after class).


I'm wondering. Seriously. Among the folk on this list who are grasping my point, is it worth discussing Lion-Taming 101, or Elementary Self-Confidence for Cooks? I don't want to sound like one of those carnival-barking motivational speakers, don't wanna give no group hugs (well, maybe one) or gaze into any crystals, but I do think there's an element in the whole dayboard/cook situation that says that those who do the work are leaders of the community. So I ask you, is this worth getting into? Or am I simply a crazed, power-mad, peer in an apron?


Adamantius
--
Phil & Susan Troy

troy at asan.com

"It was so blatant that Roger threw at him.  Clemens gets away with
things that get other people thrown out of games.  As long as they
let him get away with it, it's going  to continue." -- Joe Torre, 9/98