[Sca-cooks] Dayboards

[Elaine Koogler]

I think that your idea is a good one....especially for the "younger" cooks.  When you first start out, especially if you start talking about doing period food, you may get some who are doubtful about how acceptable your period dishes may be...especially if they contain elements that are known to be unpopular...like turnips, parsnips, beets, etc.  But once you establish that you know what you're talking about and that you only serve good food, people tend to take you at your word that the food will be good.  I had a very vivid example of this at a
feast I cooked sometime back.  One of the feasters came in and complimented me on the Lombardy Tarts I served.  She said, "I hate beets, but you said that this was a good dish.  And I know that if you say it's good, I must try it!"  Boy did that make me feel so great!!

Kiri

Philip & Susan Troy wrote:

> 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
>
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