[Sca-cooks] question: Medieval restaurant at Pennsic

[david friedman]

>Hi all!
>   I just finished lunching with a friend who does catering for a living.  I,
>of course, was enthusiastically telling him about my upcoming "vacation" and
>he was interested in the food vending.  I told him that it was pretty much
>covered, except that most of the "in period" food was done at the individual
>campsites.  He is very interested in learning if it would be feasible to do a
>totally medieval food vending at Pennsic. (not this year!).  So...I know we've
>talked about this, but I don't know what the consensus was.

So far as I can remember, the only example in the past was run by 
Carolingians, including Marion of Edwinstowe, for a few years many 
years ago. They not only served period food, they built clay ovens on 
site for baking, cooked over the fire--the only out of period 
equipment, as I recall, was refrigerators. It was an impressive 
effort, but I would expect it would be a good deal easier to do 
period food using modern equipment.

>   Would people buy period food?

I would. I suspect a significant minority would. But to make it a 
commercial success, it would have to be good enough so that a 
significant number of people were buying it, not because it was 
period but because it was good. Indeed, it might make sense not to 
make a point of advertising that it was period, just to give the 
restaurant some appropriate sounding name, have only period things on 
the menu, and let people figure out for themselves--or not--that it 
was from period recipes.

>Would he do better with a push-cart, vending
>around the A&S tents and the battlefields?

Interesting idea. I don't remember anyone doing it, and don't know if 
there are rules that would prevent it. He could make things such as 
barmakiya that are good period finger food.

>   Is it even possible for a
>newcomer to get a food vending license?  I don't do any merchanting 
>(I only buy), so
>I'm totally clueless. 
>    What about this idea: (OOP)..a pushcart selling frozen snack items (sort
>of a medieval "ice-cream truck")?

That I probably wouldn't buy from, since the feel would be less 
period than what's there now, not more.
-- 
David/Cariadoc
http://www.daviddfriedman.com/