[Sca-cooks] 12th Night

[Terri Morgan]

> Wait!  The feast is going to quite wonderful, Really!  If the
> conditions are what frighten you that really shouldn't be a
> concern.  We  really are making up for the conditions.
>
> Second hand information about our kitchen really shouldn't
> influence your decision on whether the feast will be edible.
>
> Give us a chance!  $10 isn't really all that much of a risk!
>
> We'll be posting our menu in the next week and I'm sure there'll
> be a lot to tempt you to staying for the feast!
>
> Grace

Dear Grace, I have every confidence that you and the rest of the cooking
team have examined your situation and thought everything out about what you
need and how you're going to get it. What is keeping me from feast is not
fear of the food, but indignation about a growing trend in Autocrats to let
the cooks get the poor end of the piggy when it comes to planning an event.
You _should not_ have to be asked to cope with no indoor kitchen. That you
can do so is a testament to your skill and training. That you were placed in
a position where you'd be asked to is something else again.
   My barony has gone from 10+ cooks to only 3 who cook (one of whom refuses
to do any "high table" menus at this time) and part of that is because of
expectations on the part of the populace that food be plentiful, hot (or
cold), served on lovely table ware and totally in keeping with their ideas
of what is tasty (never mind "period") and all for less than the cost of a
McDonald's happy meal. "It shouldn't be too hard" is one of the most common
and pig-headed responses to a cook who says that what they're being asked to
do is outside of their skill level. Yes, there are some outstanding cooks
who can work such culinary miracles - but many more who cannot, and many,
many more folks who'd be interested in experimenting with period cooking but
who have been frightened away by the pressure that such situations create.

I don't think it's right or fair. I will not support the abuse of a fellow
member. (Even keeping in mind that some of those members are as insane about
cooking as I am about other things and have not only asked for this type of
"abuse" but have clapped their hands together in glee and said "Ho boy, a
challenge!". Challenges should not be the standard of our treatment of those
who provide such a valuable service.


 Hro?ny
--
Dame Hro?ny Rognvaldsdottir, OP, OL
Great Dark Horde, Barony of Marinus
Misericordia Fortitudo Suprema Est
nothingbutadame at inthe.sca.org