[Sca-cooks] Arghhhh feast Service

[lilinah at earthlink.net]

Now, regardless of my previous post describing what i have observed
here in the West, i am not adverse to the High Table having its own
servers. In fact, as i said, there has usually been a "retainer" or
two serving or assisting High Table out here. So the "Royals" aren't
yelling, "Pass the Peas, Please" to someone at the far end of their
table. And if they need more of something or want to ask for
something they don't see, a retainer is usually dispatched to the
kitchen with the request.

As an actor in the Guide of St. George, the group of actors
portraying actual historic Nobles and Knights during more-or-less the
1580's and '90's at a major Renaissance Faire in California, i often
served the table when Queen Elizabeth was dining with us (as she did
every day of fair). There were often 4 or 5 of us serving about 6
people, as we brought in one dish at a time, the servers parading one
right after the other - usually we brought two dishes to the table at
a time, then put the platter on a side table, and the next two dishes
were brought out. After everything had been served, one or two of us
would hang out behind the table to serve further as needed.

Once upon a time, we did presentations of food in front of the table.
So i can certainly understand doing this, if you have enough servers.

[BTW, the Guild stopped doing it because it took too long as well as
obscured the view of the audience - after all, everything we did,
unless we were "backstage" (which means behind curtains that the
customers are not allowed to penetrate) was theater. And everything
we were doing was on a schedule, so we had to finish up by a
particular time - or at least within about 10 minutes of that time...]

None the less, if the autocrat wants a parade of dishes before the
High Table, most of those who present the food do not need to remain
at the High Table and should be able to serve the rest of the diners.

I would think that while one server per table is nice, it isn't
absolutely necessary, and one server per two or three tables,
depending on the number of diners per table, is sufficient.

We put a pitcher of water on each table, and i asked servers to check
during a course to see if anyone needed more water. I did forget to
have the servers replenish the bread "baskets" during the meal,
though :-( and i ended up with a lot of bread i couldn't eat and
didn't have freezer space to store.

In any event, eleven servers for a table of eight seems grotesquely
excessive. Do find out just what he has in mind...

Anahita