[Sca-cooks] Menu

[Aurore]

Alot of Ansteorra's courts are held during feast.  Sometimes our food gets
salty from the tears.  Aurore


>     Actually, I have been agitating for a long time to change the sequence
> from court first, then feast to feast, then court. The majority of feasts
I
> have attended have suffered severely from the 'drag-ass court syndrome',
> where the food comes out dry, cold, etc. As a feastcrat, I have thrown
pink
> and purple fits because court got started an hour late, ran an hour over,
> and then the crowns just disappeared and the autocrat didn't want to start
> feast without them . . .
>     There are many advantages to reversing the order. First, the food
> quality will not suffer from excessive delays, and you're far more likely
to
> get people to attend feast simply because the food will come out hot,
moist,
> tasting like it should. The daytrippers who are accustomed to leaving
right
> after court and hitting a restaurant on the way home are a lot more likely
> to attend feast as well, and maybe they'll actually stay on site and
attend
> bardics . . .
>     The Crowns (and the servitors) get a chance to eat and wind down a bit
> after what was probably a long and fairly hectic day before having to deal
> with court. The Heralds have more time to finish all their paperwork and
> prepare scrolls before court. It's a LOT easier and less hectic to convert
> the hall for court after feast than it is to set up for feast after court.
> (no people trying to put their feast baskets on the tables you're trying
to
> set up). You also avoid the 'pig out on the bread and cheese' difficulty.
> And if court runs late then, who cares? You've eaten, you're relaxed, and
> when it's over, you can go party.
>     In short, I think shifting the sequence would make for a vast
> improvement over the current system, and make the event far more enjoyable
> for just about everybody.
>
>     Sieggy
>
> -----Original Message-----
>
> >Not criticism, just a leading comment/question. While I know it is very
> >appropriate to the majority (if not all) of time periods, I find that in
> the
> >SCA, by having more than 2 - 3 major courses (not counting an opening
> and/or
> >closing course) you end up with a great deal of waste in the final
courses.
> >What I mean by a major course is a meat/veggie/starch course that has
> decent
> >quantities. It may just be the way feasts work in my area, but most
fourth
> >courses that I have seen end up with at least half of every dish
remaining
> >on the table.
> >
> >This could be attributed to the fact that we (in my area) almost always
> have
> >court before feast, and the first meat course that is set before those
> >assembled gets consumed like rabid dogs. The second course a bit more
> >liesurely, and then the third is just gilding the lily. It could be
> >attributed to the fact that most people are not used to multi-course
meals
> >and have no idea that you are supposed to have small servings of
everyting
> &
> >pace yourself. There are many reasons this could be, but the end result
is
> >the same. If there are courses beyond the 3rd it tends to go to waste -
> with
> >people looking wistfully at the last delicious dish to come out and
wishing
> >they had left room.
> >
> >So, those are my thoughts. I am not suggesting that you should cull a
> >course - unless you really want to. Possibly I am suggesting you take
extra
> >thought to your serving size and serve smaller portions that would force
> the
> >feasters to pace themselves. I think the feast looks absolutely lovely,
> >exceptionally so. But then again, even never having met you it is exactly
> >the level of excellence I would expect from you. :)
> >
> >Glad Tidings,
> >Serena da Riva
>
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