[Sca-cooks] Feast Ambience

[Mark Calderwood]

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At 18:14 30/07/02 -0700, you wrote:
>In the meanwhile I was wondering if you do special things to help with the
>ambience of your feasts- to go along with the wonderful food and subtleties?

I've always found a theme helpful in giving some ambience to a feast. This
can be as simple as "good food, good company", or specific to a culture or
time period. Things like period menus, service and hall decorations can add
immensely to the atmosphere of an event.

I'm a big believer in themed events, and have run them for many years now,
ranging from stuff like an Imperial Byzantine feast, a Persian Caliph's
banquet and a caravan to the East, to a feast for Henry VIII and a high
chivalric banquet. (This year I am doing an Andalusian feast, an Italian
festive banquet, and a grand 16th century Spanish feast at Yule.) Themes
really help give a focus to your event, and provide a framework to build on.

For example, the aforementioned Andalusian feast. This was originally
scheduled for Twelfth Night but was delayed by bushfire; on the up side, it
gave me more time to research and plan! I have long been interested in
Islamic culture and civilisation, but had never done much on al-Andalus, so
it seemed a good choice, and as far as I know an Andalusian feast has never
been done in Lochac before. Once I had a general idea I had to narrow it
down, and given that the surviving cooking manuscripts date to the 13th
century, a feast from the court of Cordoba, in the style of the courtier
Ziryab, seemed logical.

As with every feast, the food is the backbone. The menu is drawn mostly
from the Manuscrito Anonimo, with some dishes taken from other influential
Islamic cookbooks such as al-Baghdadi and al-Warraq. (I've done my own
redactions for all the recipes). I''ve also looked at the period order of
service talked about in the Anonimo, and the method of serving introduced
by Ziryab: "that the separate dishes be placed on each table before the
diners, one after another; and by my life, this is more beautiful than
putting an uneaten mound all on the table, and it is more elegant,
better-bred, and modern; this has been the practice of the people of
al-Andalus and the West...from the days of 'Umar b. 'Abd al-'Aziz...to the
present". To supplement these sources I'm researched period ways of
colouring and decorating the food,  presentation being of great importance
in Islamic Spain. To serve the food I'm hiring beautiful replica period
serving dishes made by a local potter, of a style used from Byzantium to
al-Andalus and decorated with bird and animals with a deep green glaze,
they really rock.

Decorating the hall is also important. The tables have runners printed with
Arabic calligraphy, and I have a variety of Islamic banners and wall
hangings which will be suitable, set off by garlands of greenery and citrus
fruits (which will also make the place smell nice). Of course, there will
be incense burning, some genuine frankincense resin from Oman (and probably
sage to stimulate the appetite). I'm planning to have a "lei girl" to greet
guests with a waft of incense when they arrive, in the traditional manner.
Instead of candles, we'll be using oil lamps and mosque lamp chandeliers,
which cast a nice suffused golden light, which does wonders for the atmosphere.

Entertainment and diversion is also something to think about- I have
arranged for an "old desert storyteller" to circulate among the tables  and
tell period jokes and stories, and for a performer in authentic dance (not
modern bellydance). The "muezzin" (herald) will announce each dish with a
short piece of background to the time and culture the feast is portraying,
to educate the guests. Get the guests involved too, as they arrive everyone
will be given a slip of paper with a period joke, poem, song or story,
which they will be encouraged to read (also makes a good souvenir of the
event). This could even turn into a "paper-chase" game, with people
collecting parts of a story. Period games like backgammon and satranj
(chess) are also appropriate as popular period pastimes. Guest are also
encouraged to dress in Andalusian, Near Eastern or early period garb, and
ladies are encouraged to wear veils, to further add to the ambience. There
will be prizes given to encourage people to participate.

A lot of work? Yes. Worth it? Unquestionably. (And I hope the Lochac folk
on this list will be there!)

Anyway, didn't mean for this to sound like an infomercial...

Giles
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