[Sca-cooks] Midrealm News Regarding Cooks

[Sue Clemenger]

Good Question, Papa!
The laurels I hang out with (and I'm guessing that would include me, 
since I are one <g>) are definitely looking more closely at issues of 
authenticity and such than they were overall, back when I was first 
"leaved," (back sometime shortly after the dinosaurs died off....).  I 
felt a bit uneasy about it, at first, as if I were holding possible 
candidates to a higher standard than that which had been used for me, 
but I have since come to realize that today's up-and-coming artisans 
have so many more resources than I did, it pretty much evens out. 
Whether we look at ourselves in the same light depends on the individual 
and his or her areas of expertise.  No one does it all.  I probably know 
more about tentage than most Artemisians, for instance, but still camp 
in a nylon pimple tent, because it's not cost effective for me to invest 
that much money into camping gear I use only two or three weekends a 
year at most (never mind the impossibility of hauling it in my friend's 
Nissan).  I'd rather be buying books, or fiber, or fabric. ;-)
Lordy, when I started cooking feasts, _Fabulous Feasts_ and books like 
_To the King's Taste_ and _To the Queen's Taste_ were really *cool* 
resources to have! And look how things have changed! Just in the last 
month, one of our own has translated a new Italian text, and there are 
all the other internet sources, never mind all the amazing texts I've 
acquired and/or read, courtesy of my local librarians.
Vis-a-vis food in particular, certainly my own attitudes towards it have 
shifted as I've learned more and more about it.  Do I make compromises 
because of cost or availability or food preferences or hall resources? 
Heck, yes.  As much as I'd love to cook more Andalusian recipes using an 
appropriate lamb, or more fresh fish dishes, the meats are outrageously 
expensive, if available at all here (costs of living inland in a 
relatively small market).  Do I make mistakes? Heck, yes. <g> But I'm 
also forever re-remembering that sometimes what is "period" IS 
"practical."  In clothing, for example (my primary area), new members 
and folks with a limited budget are really much better off with one or 
two good-quality, period-fabric outfits than getting caught up in the 
"gotta have a new outfit for every SCA event I go to" insanity.  Myself 
included <g>.  When I think of all the money I spent on glitz and 
hollywood-inspired inaccuracies, I just shudder.  When I think of the 
first feast I helped with, which featured vegetables marinated in 
Italian dressing, and roasted turkey legs, I just laugh.  These days, 
give me my copy of _Woven Into the Earth_, and some yummy period food, 
and I'm a happy camper.  As I've matured, I've moved much more towards 
interests in matters authentic, but then, one of my favorite parts of 
the SCA is that there's still room for my crazy bits of foolishness. 
Hopefully, I extend that same courtesy to my fellows.
--Maire, OL, OP, etc., etc. alphabet soupage....

Michael Gunter wrote:


> That's very cool, it's always good to see another cooking laurel.
> One question, is Emmelyne a "period cook" or a "just darned good
> food" cook. I'm just kind of doing a study on how the aspects of
> the SCA is changing especially in the aspect of period over practical.
> 
> Mainly, and this is a question I ask of the Laurels on this list as 
> well, are
> Laurels now looked at more closely for their period works than earlier?
> Or is it about the same as in the past?
> 
> Just a topic for discussion.