[Sca-cooks] Some disturbing news about one of the food merchantsat Pennsic

[Phil Troy/ G. Tacitus Adamantius]

Also sprach Olwen the Odd:

>Phil's Grille.  I have written to a fellow that worked there and am 
>hoping to get a reliable story from him.  When and if I do I shall 
>pass it on.  This topic is on other lists I am on, along with the 
>story of the cross-bow guy whose name I cann't recall just now.  At 
>least in that case the owner wrote his side.  I have yet to hear 
>from the owner of Phils or anyone with the "know".
>Olwen

Phil himself, or possibly his wife writing from a shared mail 
account, I forget which, wrote at least two separate accounts to the 
UseNet newsgroup rec.org.sca, a.k.a. The Rialto, but his account 
didn't mention any specific reasons for the expulsion. The suggestion 
seemed to be that Phil's menu and work methods were geared for 
SCAdians, and that there were necessary differences between optimal 
work conditions for running a SCAdian food service and for ordinary 
food services, and that Cindy Cooper and the PA health department and 
licensing body failed to comprehend this. There was also a very faint 
implication of religious persecution, as I recall.

On the other hand, food services don't tend to get very far with the 
"the authorities don't understand the way we work" defense. If you 
want to be a licensed food service or be covered by somebody else's 
license, you understand how they work, and maintain their standards, 
rather than expecting them to adapt to yours.

I do gather that PA has some rather more stringent regulations than 
many other states; it's possible that what a travelling SCA food 
service routinely does and gets away with in Montana (or wherever) 
will not cut it in PA.

But yes, it would be nice to hear a full, detailed version of the 
story (which the above plainly is not).

Adamantius