[Sca-cooks] Newspaper reporter needs help with story

[Patrick ODonnell]

Greetings.
 
My name is Patrick O'Donnell, a reporter for The Plain Dealer, the main newspaper in Cleveland, OH. I am also an SCA member, Lord Mael Patraic mac Domnaill, the author of a new book about the SCA called The Knights Next Door: Everyday People Living Middle Ages Dreams. 
 
I am doing a feature story for my paper on medieval feasts, using the Midrealm coronation feast this past weekend as the basis. I have personally attended at least 20 SCA feasts and had sections on Atlantian cooks/researches Thomas Longshanks and John le Burguillin in my book. But I want to clarify a few things.
 
1) What would you consider the main mundane misconceptions about medieval food?
2) What is the most common -but wrong - way medieval feasts are depicted?
3) What is the true most important difference between modern food and medieval food?
4) What is the closest thing to a steak available in the Middle Ages? If we need to be specific, try 14th C France)
 
I have to keep this short and sweet, so I don't need any treatises. The audience is everday run-of-the-mill mundanes. Some of this I might even condense into a list. What I need is concensus on a few big things so I can make a few points to folks who won't ever research or try period food.
 
I've got a couple of days.
 
Thanks,
 
Patrick/Mael Patraic  


Author of The Knights Next Door: Everyday People Living Middle Ages Dreams
A "behind-the-shield" look at the world of Middle Ages re-enactors
 
Available in hardcover and paperback, October 2004
www.knightsnextdoor.com

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