[Sca-cooks] Re: Arghhhh feast Service

[Stefan li Rous]

HRH (or is it HRM, now?) Alys Katharine said:

> Anahita mentioned Interkingdom Anthropology in regard to feasts and
> serving.  Even though Head Table might get the same food, my
> personal take is that the folk are _not_ the same as at the other
> tables.  They are representing "important people" such as kings,
> queens, princes, princesses, etc.  I will say, from my perspective,
> that it is pretty embarrassing to have to ask His Majesty to please
> ask the people sitting beyond Him to please pass the fried
> mushrooms.

I'm not sure that the fried mushrooms should be served. We've
talked about this before, and no one has presented any evidence
that fried mushrooms are period. However, if someone has such
evidence, I'd reallly like to get it. I Like fried mushrooms.

> Two servers can probably serve High Table, but what I've been
> finding from my recent experience sitting at it, is that either they
> need to stay there (or one of them does) or the Royalty need to have
> one or more of their retainers fill in.  My personal opinion is that
> the Head Table folk shouldn't have to take the bowl of food and pass
> it down.  It should be presented to them, individually, and either
> the server serves a portion or the Royalty can spoon it up.  Food
> that is placed in front of the highest personage often never gets
> beyond that person (if S/He is busy talking) or is sent down one
> side of the table only.  That's where having a server (or two) stay
> at the table helps.  The server keeps the dish moving.  The server
> comes back to ask if it is wanted again.  The server keeps the glass
> filled.

Alys makes some good points here.

> I've been at feasts at Head Table where my water ran out, no server
> (or retainer) was present, and I had to get up and go look for some.
> Now, I'm as egalitarian as anyone, but if I'm acting as Princess or
> Queen, does that really look very good?  Princesses and Queens can't
> go anywhere by themselves, can't carry stuff, can't do lots of
> things.  Suddenly at a feast they are expected to pass food as in a
> boarding house.  I think this is coming off stronger than I mean,
> but consider what the impression on the populace is when the
> Princess gets up to fetch a bowl from the far end of Head Table.

Is this any worse than when the Royalty get up, pack up and leave the
hall in the middle of the feast? Or when the Royalty orders out
for pizza? Or says they'd rather not have period food?

> Or, consider the subtle impression given to Royalty (who are
> expected to set an example of being "royal") when the food is just
> placed in front of them and they are expected to pass it down, back
> and forth, and serve themselves (usually without a serving utensil
> in the bowl!).

Apparently not having a serving utensil is common at some feasts for
everybody. But yes, it shouldn't be too difficult to come up with
a few serving utensils for the headtable. Better to have a pair of
servers walk along the table and serve the individuals.

> If we are going to maintain the "separateness" of
> the Royals, a little extra personal service during feast will help
> maintain that illusion.

Okay, I don't hear anyone saying a little extra service is a bad thing.
There are often good reasons for this, in addition to the ones that
you've mentioned.  However, you yourself mention one or two servers.
For a fair sized headtable, I'm not even sure that four would be out
of line. However, eleven servers, when none can be found for the rest
of the hall is excessive. And also gives a rather negative opinion
about how the other feasters rate.

Personally I don't have a problem with giving the headtable extra
service, compared to giving them special dishes that are paid for
from the common funds that no one else gets to try. However, the
rest of the hall shouldn't be neglected in order to give this
extra service.

> Okay... My opinion.  I frankly _love_ to serve Head Table and
> provide the personal touch... bowing, kneeling to present the dish,
> offering to serve the food, unobtrusively returning periodically
> with dishes to see if more is wanted, and so on.

For some good ideas, and a number of varied opinions on serving
the headtable, check this file in the FEASTS section of the
Florilegium:
headcooks-msg    (155K)  5/17/01    Advice for SCA headcooks. Planning feasts.

meat-carving-bib   (9K)  4/ 5/01    Biblio. on meat carving by Thomas Gloning.

--
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 ****