[Sca-cooks] Drinks at feasts (was: what's wierd-ish, what isn't)

[Daniel Myers]

On Nov 9, 2004, at 1:33 PM, David Friedman wrote:

> The question then becomes, what do you serve for people to drink at 
> feasts? As someone else indicated, at least it isn't iced tea, which 
> as far as I can tell was never been served to anyone in our period; 
> sekanjabin and the other syrup drinks are at least reasonably 
> appropriate for Islamic personas. What we should be serving for 
> European feasts is pretty clearly wine, beer, mead, etc.; the problem 
> with these is that we run into mundane constraints, including; (1) 
> people often have to drive home after the feast; and (2) sites often 
> don't allow alcohol; and (3) the SCA alcohol policy won't let you 
> spend SCA money on them. At my last feast I compromised by serving 
> small mead I had made myself from one of Digby's recipes, and donating 
> it, which isn't horribly expensive, along with water and sekanjabin.
>
> How do other people handle this?

While sekanjabin may be period for Islamic personas, it really isn't 
for the majority of Europe throughout most of medieval history.  I 
personally find it just as out of place as iced tea at feasts with a 
nothern European menu.

Yes, in theory we should be serving wine, beer, and mead, and for (at 
least) the reasons you state this can't be done.

For smaller feasts I've been serving non-alcoholic wine (a.k.a. fancy 
grape juice), water, and apple cider (when available).  Of these, only 
the water is consistent.  The n.a. wine is rather pricy, and the cider 
is only reasonable (or even available) at certain times of the year.  
I've tried to find a cheap source of non-alcoholic beer but none of the 
distributors seem to sell it in kegs (it's too expensive by the 
bottle/can).

Lemonade is *almost* period, as shown by this recipe found by Johnnae -

On Jun 17, 2003, at 9:04 PM, johnna holloway wrote:

> How to Make Lemonade.
> It is made several waies, according to the diversity of the
> ingredients. For to make it with Jasmin, you must take of it about
> two handful, infuse it in two or three quarts of water the space
> of eight or ten houres; then to one quart of water you shall put
> six ounces of sugar. Those of ornage flowers, of muscade roses,
> and og gelliflowers, are made after the same way. For to make
> that of Lemon, take some lemons, cut them, and take out the juice,
> put it in water as abovesaid. Pare another lemon, cut it into slices,
> put it among this juice, and some sugar proportionably.
> That of orange is made the same way.
> Francois Pierre La Varenne. The French Cook. 1653. pp. 238-239.

In short, given the current state of the SCA and events, I feel that 
flavored lemonades (real, not instant) would be one of the less 
offensive and more popular alternatives.

- Doc


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"English wine is more fit to be sieved rather than drunk."
   - Peter of Blois, 12th c.
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