[Sca-cooks] Feast Service: thanks and a question

[Maggie MacDonald]

At 07:26 AM 1/28/02,jenne at fiedlerfamily.net said something like:
>Now, I would like to hear from people how _they_ handle formal feast
>service in their area, if they do it, and what they consider good feast
>service, as I've volunteered to coordinate the feast service for an event
>in June and need all the suggestions and help I can get.
>
>-- Jadwiga Zajaczkowa

When my household (deSteele) or the Calafian Cook's Guild does a feast, we
ask for a server from each table.  We call them up ten minutes before the
first course and explain to them the basics of serving, we provide towels
for carrying, wiping, whatever.  They are also told what each dish is, the
period name, the mundane name, and what is in it.  For those tables with
special needs, at some point (hopefully) the kitchen has been made aware
that their particular table has the person allergic to onions, rosemary,
whatever, or has the vegans for that feast. The server gets the food from
.. gah, that person who dresses the food (stationed at a banquet table
outside the kitchen), serves his table, collects debris and returns it to
the designated debris area. Then, they are called for when the second
course is ready to go out, etc.

The biggest stumbling block we keep hitting is that most people seem to
confuse servER with servANT.  A server is someone who is showing his
nobility and gentility by serving his peers. A servant is someone you hire
to do stuff you don't want to be bothered with. There are times when we've
volunteered someone from our table to serve at a feast that we weren't
cooking, and that person was told to serve the food to our table, then
return to a dark cold hallway where they were to stand in absolute silence
between serving the courses.  Their food was given to them on a 6 inch
paper plate, from broken foods, and they were told to eat it in that same
dark, cold hallway. This was a very unsatisfying experience, both for us,
and the person selected from our table to serve.

I like being able to get the food for my friends, serve it, then we can all
enjoy it together. Whats the big deal with getting up and walking across
the hall to fetch a plate for pity's sake? If i want to be waited on hand
and foot, I'll go to Denny's where the food costs more, the quality is
less, but they'll cheerfully stand on their head,for a price.  I'm paying
$7 to $10 a feast, I get three courses (generally), and far more wonderful
food than i could reasonably eat!! This is a volunteer group, it works with
volunteers ... why is there a problem with volunteering to walk across a
room and pick up a plate!?!?

Ok, thats my rant on the issue,
Cheers,
Maggie MacD.