[Sca-cooks] ...thoughts on period-style food?

[Philippa Alderton]

--- Gorgeous Muiredach <muiredach at bmee.net> wrote:
>
> >OK, Bethra, I'm one who gets very irritated when
> >people start in on "for Modern tastes" because it
> >frequently is a phrase used by the ignorant which
> >implies that <SNIP>
>
> But Phlip...  One must be careful not to throw the
> baby out with the bath
> water.  Frequently used might be, please don't get
> very irritated the
> moment you hear the "modern tastes" thing, the
> person talking *might* just
> be sharing your opinion, or one that you might be
> able to agree with :-)

Actually, I am usually pretty careful when I hear that
or other red flag phrases, to make sure I understand
what the other person is saying- I spent too many
years in direct insurance sales not to be. One of the
phrases
I used to hear with far too much regularity was, "I'm
insurance poor" as if it were the most sparkling and
witty thing these people could come up with, and
unfortunately, in many cases it was. I had several
rebuttals at the tip of my tongue to deal with this,
and frequently used them. OTOH, if you're willing to
really listen to the people, you can often hear what
they're really saying, and direct your responses to
their particular problem, and in many cases let them
talk themselves right into buying more insurance, with
considerably less time and effort expended than if you
responded to this or other no-brainer statements.

But, we're on SCA Cooks List now, and I'm treating
this List as more of a class in which we're teaching
each other, than I am as a salesman-customer
interaction. Thus, I'm explaining what is really
behind this oft used phrase, "Modern tastes".

>
> >In my opinion, much modern food sucks.
>
> Hear! Hear!
>
> >Now, I'll tell you what I did, to learn about these
> >spicings. Very simply, I started making modern
> dishes
> >with which I was quite familiar, but instead of
> using
> >my usual blends, I used ingredients as described in
> >some of my Medieval cookbooks. That way, being very
> >familiar with the original dishes, I could
> determine
> >what the effect was on the foods
>
> Now, that is a *great* idea that I shall use myself
> and suggest to
> others.  Thank you for sharing this, it is a most
> helpful idea.

Glad I could help. Sometimes the simplest ideas can be
the most helpful.

Phlip, off to smoosh another batch of pears...

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