[Sca-cooks] Handling special diet needs at feasts

[Stefan li Rous]

A tired Adamantius said:
> Except, of course, for those on really low-sodium diets who will,
> of course, have contacted me weeks before the event. But, oddly enough,
> in this case, didn't. (Actually, I had a total of one lactose intolerant
> and a couple who ate no pork or seafood but adjudged the remainder of my
> menu plenty of food, and one vegetarian who asked me on the day...).

I was in the kitchen and overheard Adamantius discussing what parts
of the feast would be okay for this vegetarian, which dishes should
be avoided and which dishes he (Adamantius) would try to make special
versions of. I was, in fact, rather surprised to hear Adamantius
offer to make special versions of the number of dishes that he did.
After all, this request was made on the day of the feast in the
middle of a rather hectic kitchen and not a week or two in advance.
This feast consisted of a large number of varied dishes. This both
increases the chances that there will be plenty for those on
restricted diets (either voluntary or medically necessary) but also
increases the number of things the headcook must keep up with and
adding a series of special exception dishes complicates things
further.

I'm not sure how you ensure that these specially prepared dishes
actually get to the appropriate members of the populace, who may
be dispersed about the hall. Especially since the food is plated
for a table and not individually. Do folks flag these particular
dishes with little flags or name tags?

--
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
   Mark S. Harris            Austin, Texas          stefan at texas.net
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****