[Sca-cooks] Regretable foods.... OOP

[Pixel, Goddess and Queen]

On Mon, 24 Sep 2001, Ted Eisenstein wrote:

>
> (So, what was the worst SCA dish y'all have ever come across at a feast?)
>
> Alban


There were a couple of feasts that rank very high in the "would not want
to repeat at any price" category. A 12th Night feast in which every dish
except the bread, I think, was made with a high proportion of fat (duck in
confit, red cabbage stewed in what may have been lard, bread with cheese
spreads, other meats with fat on them, vegetables dripping with butter and
cheese, pasta dripping with butter and oil, etc.) and not a lot of
research.

My sister, who actually sat feast, said that afterwards she felt "ishy". I
volunteered to serve. Usually not a problem, except that the servers did
not get fed independently. The *ahem* individual theoretically running the
event thought that it would be a cool thing if the servers begged for
their food from the people they were serving. I think I mostly ate bread
with cheese spread on it. Plus, they'd decided to do high feast and low
feast, out of the same rather small kitchen, but in two different
gymnasia.

The other regrettable feast was mostly bland and greasy (and
also not researched). Extremely greasty roast chicken, orzo that was
supposed to have onions in it (and a lot of oil), some vegetable thing
covered in cheese and oil. I've tried to blot it from my memory,
really. Afterwards, while talking to one of the event stewards, she
suggested that the head cook should be a Laurel "because he's done thirty
feasts." I opined that the feast I just ate was not what I'd consider
Laurel quality, and certainly not nearly as good as what my college dining
hall regularly served. She responded "The *Princess* loved it." I replied
that the Princess had been served prime rib and specially reserved dishes
due to her food allergies, so that didn't necessarily count as gushing
praise for the rest of the feast.

But no horror stories otherwise. I guess I've been lucky. Which is a good
thing.

Margaret