[Sca-cooks] FWD: November 2004 MK Cook's Challenge

[Gaylin Walli]

A short while back, the Middle Kingdom Cook's list began a monthly 
challenge at the beginning of each month that was introduced to spur 
conversation, get people thinking on their feet, and provide a bit of 
amusement to the readers in general. Each month's challenge has been 
different to date and as list maintainer, I'm the one who sends them 
out (people usually send me their challenge ideas privately and I mix 
and match or steal them whole cloth with credit and then send them out).

This past month's challenge was particularly interesting and a few of 
the MK Cook's members suggested to me privately that I should send the 
challenge to the SCA Cook's list to stimulate further discussion about 
the topic. I forward it to you now in this email in hopes that you 
enjoy it, in hopes that it stimulates conversation, and in hopes that 
everyone can learn a bit from the ensuing conversation.

Cheers,

Iasmin

Iasmin de Cordoba, iasmin at comcast.net


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Date: Tue, 2 Nov 2004
To: MKcooks
Subject: November 2004 MK Cook's Challenge

In light of the recent discussions about non-SCA conventions and 
"feasts" I thought we'd issue our monthly challenge with some of the 
discussed facotrs in mind. Here's this month's cooking challenge:

The Scenario

The local choral ensemble at the community college has won top honors 
at a major international competition with their recent performance of 
period madrigal-like songs. In celebration, they wish to host a "dinner 
theatre" of sorts, inviting a number of local and foreign dignitaries. 
The theatre department has volunteered to decorate (and seem pretty 
good at it), but the food is something that still needs taking care of.

Your local group has been approached to volunteer time to produce the 
food for the proposed dinner. No restrictions have been set on the 
dishes or foods that can be served, though the choral leader was 
curious if a boar's head or something similarly impressive from the 
oral traditions could be incorporated. Everyone very much wants a feast 
that is "as medieval as possible, to celebrate such a grand occasion."

The Facts

The local school system is a poor one, situtated in a rural area of the 
American south. The population of the local community college consists 
large of scholarship students who have worked extremely hard to obtain 
a college degree, and as a result the college as a whole has very 
little money to spend on extracurricular activities. What the 
award-winning choral group has accomplished is outstanding for that 
fact alone, but it means that in terms of a feast, the money available 
is limited. You have exactly 4.25$ US to spend per person. The college 
expects that about 100 people will sign up for attending the feast and 
more will *want* to sign up as a way of supporting such a magnificent 
effort.

The Challenge

What do you cook? The money is slim, but the theme is grand and 
celebratory. Your group has agreed to do that feast if only because it 
is the perfect way for the SCA to give a little something back to the 
community that has supported them for so long. How do you manage the 
opulence they hope for on such a limited budget? What ideas do you 
have? What assumptions do you make?