[Sca-cooks] RE: Italian Renaissance dining and manners

[Kirrily Robert]

Louise wrote:
>
> There are a couple of books dealing specifically with
> the jobs of the butler and the carver available online
> at
> http://www.bib.ub.es/grewe/grewe1.htm
> Including:
>
> Il Trinciante di M. Vincenzo Cervio : ampliato et a
> perfettione ridotto dal Caualier Reale Fusoritto da
> Narni...
> The carver of M. Vincenzo Cervio: amplified and
> perfectly reduced of the Royal knight Fusoritto da
> Narni.

Ooh, that's good to know.  Frustrating interface, though :-/

> Specifically what are you after, just general
> descriptions or detailed specifics with specific
> texts?
> If it is the former, I may be able to help, the later
> is considerably more time consuming and takes longer
> to work up.

Hrm, well, as some people may have guessed, this is the early research
phase for "Just a Feast II" (aka "an evening with the Medicis") which
we're starting to think about.  Currently it's just in the "can we do
it?" phase and I'm just trying to get a feel for what resources are
available.

What I'm looking for is cultural "colour" that translates well into a
high-end SCA feast context.  For example, at the feast last weekend we
had servers processing in, ceremonial handwashing, a course of
"banquetting dishes" after the main feast, etc.  Next time, if we're
doing renaissance Florence, I would like to have similar flourishes but
in an appropriate style for the culture.

So this would include:

- roles for servants and their Italian titles (marshall of the hall,
  head cook, servers, carvers, entertainers, etc)
- how the tables were set
- typical order of courses
- manners and etiquette
- typical entertainments at a feast

and so on.

General overviews would be good, but I'm not scared of going to the
original sources at least a bit.  I probably can't manage to translate
*everything* I need, but if I can get pointers to the bits I want, then
I can probably manage to translate specifics, yknow?

Yours,

Katherine

--
Lady Katherine Rowberd (mka Kirrily "Skud" Robert)
katherine at infotrope.net  http://infotrope.net/sca/
Caldrithig, Skraeling Althing, Ealdormere
"The rose is red, the leaves are grene, God save Elizabeth our Queene"