[Sca-cooks] what are your thoughts on period-style food?

[Decker, Terry D.]

I think the question you should be asking is "what is the intent?"

I am deeply interested in culinary history and historical cooking and I like
historical accuracy (historical, perhaps hysterical, clinkers in presumably
historical novels and movies tend to be a real irritation).  However, the
precision of my historical accuracy varies with my intent.

When I present a paper my intent is to produce a work that might be
acceptable to an academic publication.  Accuracy is a high priority.  A
column for Serve It Forth!, the intent is to entertain and enlighten.  While
I desire an accuracy equal to the more professional publication, it is
secondary to my intent.

When working out a pre-17th Century recipe, I try to follow the instructions
as closely as the constraints of my kitchen allow.  For a dinner party, I
whipped up turkey in orange sauce a la Maestro Martino, although I doubt
Master Martino ever saw a North American turkey.  In one case, the intent is
historical accuracy.  In the other, it was a tasty meal using a specific
meat.

One of the stated goals of the SCA is education.  If this is so, then at
least part of our intent should be to educate, and part of that education is
historical accuracy.  We need to carefully differentiate between that which
we know and can document as historically accurate and our personal flights
of fancy into the realm of historical possibility.  If we don't, we'll be
having those well known Medieval dishes of beet sugar and Master Martino's
turkey show up at "period" feasts.

My biggest objection to "period-style" dishes is that people try to pass
them off as period and use "it's the period recipes" to excuse culinary
incompetence.  I have no particular objection to steak and potatoes, but
they do diminish the atmosphere of an event for me, because I know better.
In my opinion, a feast should be edible and should enhance the atmosphere of
the event.  Historical accuracy in cooking and service is a definite plus.


I find the idea of "slavishly copying stuff from period sources" humorous.
In many cases, one must have the culinary skills just to interpet the recipe
(and even then there are always cuskynoles).  To my mind, the best
demonstration of a mastery of historical cooking, is a delicious feast
prepared from original sources tied to a given time and place.  It requires
one to work within the constraints of the documentation and tests ones
skills in interpetation and preparation.  I'm certain we would see more
"period" feasts rather than "period-style" feasts if that "slavish copying"
wasn't more difficult than preparing "period-style" dishes.

BTW, I'm not particularly enamored of "period" or "authentic."  Period
covers too much scope when one is trying to be precise.  And as for
authentic, everything we do is authentic, but I don't know authentic what.
I much prefer limiting scope by describing time and place (although I'm
often guilty of using "period") and I prefer "historically accurate" to
authentic.

Bear