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

[Bronwynmgn at aol.com]

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In a message dated 1/1/2002 7:32:50 PM Eastern Standard Time,
skud at infotrope.net writes:


> Either way, I feel fairly comfortable making up period-style recipes as
> long as they use period ingredients and techniques, aren't a mad
> mishmash of incompatible styles, and aren't trying to be "unusual" in
> any way, and aren't trying to pass it off as a documented actual
> medieval recipe.
>
>

I like your last statement here - not trying to pass it off as documented,
which I think is extremely important if you are using a dish of your own
creation.  Something else to consider in this area, however - you may know
that it isn't documented, and those of your diners who read your menu or
other paperwork about the feast may or may not take home the realization that
some dishes were period and some were period-style.  Many will simply assume
that , because it was served at a medieval event, it must of course be
medieval food.  I had someone once come close to threatening to sue the local
renfaire over this - when the person found out that I study period cooking,
they asked me which of the foods served at the faire were period, and I
replied truthfully that to the best of my knowledge none were.  The person
got very incensed until I pointed out that the faire never says one word
about whether or not their food is period; he had made the assumption that it
was.  And this is a faire that routinely serves things like pizza, baked
potatoes with toppings, french fries, etc.

One of the classes I've taught is how to choose a period cookbook.  The first
thing I tell people is that the choice first of all depends on what your
goals are for the foods you are going to cook from it.  Not only in the sense
of wanting food from a specific culture or time period, but even to the point
of whether you want to serve a meal that is filling and tasty and don't care
about periodicity, whether you simply want to avoid the most obvious
non-period foods, or if you want every dish and every ingredient in it to be
used exactly as they would have been in period.

My personal choice is never to serve a period-style dish of my own creation
at a feast.  I will, however, make attempts at period-style dishes for meals
at home (as you did with your stew) or in camp.  But I remember that I simply
don't have the lifetime background in period cookery, health theories, etc,
that would let me know for sure that this really is something that medieval
people would have made and considered edible.  After all, they had all the
ingredients for a number of modern dishes ( a hamburger being one of the
examples) that they never seem tohave invented.

Brangwayna Morgan