[Sca-cooks] Is cooking like costuming?

[bonneoftraquair at netscape.net]

>> I really don't think the differences between cooking and costuming
>> are as great as you make them out to be.
>
>Well, one generally doesn't hear people wandering around complaining about
>'So and so's houppelande is not a copy of an extant period textile! She
>doesn't even have a period pattern or a painting that exactly matches it!'

It has been stated regularly here that no one expects an exact match but only the best attempt. The documentation we have is so vague that only a near guess is possible from the most scrupulously documented research. Imagine creating a gown from truncated written instructions and no visual evidence.  That is what we are working from in cooking.

In costuming, the benchmark for what results from a pile of cloth and a pile of facts is a wide range of illustrations.  In cooking, the benchmark from a pile of food and a pile of facts is - what?  The recipes we do have--what with their inexactitude and lack of description--are not good illustrations.  The only example of period food any of us have seen are the results of what is seen by some as the more diffucult, or more boring, activity: working from a pile of food, a pile of facts, and a vague recipe.

In either cooking or costuming, although the details may be correct, the result may not be.  A recipe, or costume, derived from details and the materials at hand may fill a need at home or camp, but should be avoided whenever one is in a teaching mode. Keep in mind, once you are known for being knowledgeable on a topic, or even just interested, you are always in teaching mode.  Whether or not you intend to be.

Bonne



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