[Sca-cooks] Survived My First Time As A Feast Steward

[Katheline van Weye]

Well the Kingdom Arts and Sciences Competition for Atenveldt is behind us now
and I survived my first time as a feast steward.  I've done cooking for SCA
events before but never for that many people and never almost the whole menu.  

With a budget of only $200 and a planned number of about 100 people, the
decision was made early on to do just a light lunch instead of a big feast.  I
had a great, open autocrat to work with and he was fine with my plan to do all
period or period-oid dishes.  Nothing on the tables stood out as too modern. 
Everything on the menu was planned as finger foods for grabbing and going
because the A&S Competition tends to be a very busy time for the judges,
competitors, counters, etc.

Of course, more than 100 people ended up eating the lunch and I spent more than
the $200.  I knew that I couldn't do the lunch for just the $200 so I went into
it expecting to spend out of my own pocket.  Which was fine as this was an
opportunity to showcase period food.  Atenveldt doesn't do a lot of period
feasts (one of the only ones I've ever had in Atenveldt was done by Count
Gunthar).

The following dishes were original interpretations (redactions) of period
recipes:

Mushroom Pasties (although I did it in a tart format to save time)
Another Tarts (cheese tart)
Garlic Torta (done by Lady Nastas'ia)
White Tart
Raisin Paste
Garlic and Cheese Sauce (used as a spread)
Chickpeas with Eggs and Cheese (ground up in a food processor and used as a
spread)

Also on the menu were things that didn't need cooking/baking:
An assortment of sliced meats
An assortment of sliced cheeses
Bread
Crackers
Butter
Mustard
Fruit (red grapes and sliced apples)

At the end of the day, all that was left was two loaves of bread and some of
the crackers.  

I thought it was very successful although I wish that I had had more food
there.  I didn't expect the turnout that we got but I also don't know that it
was possible to increase the amount of food I made with the budget I had.

Recipe booklets were given out at the lunch so hopefully some of the diners
will get excited about making period food for themselves.


Yours in service,
Katheline


		
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