[Sca-cooks] Cooking contest

[Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius]

On Jul 29, 2006, at 1:42 AM, Volker Bach wrote:

> Am Samstag, 29. Juli 2006 01:23 schrieb Michael Gunter:
>
>> But I was told that I didn't "jump through the hoops" of entering  
>> A&S and
>> teaching and putting on at least one major feast a year. Now, I  
>> agree that
>> I've pretty much retired from cooking so I've hung up my desires  
>> for the
>> Leaves but I still chafe at the thought that in order for me to be
>> considered
>> for a Laurel, A&S competitions are more important than feeding  
>> people.

I'd say that A&S competitions are one rather artificial construct out  
of the many the collective Laurels and Crown should be using to  
synthesize a good evaluation of a candidate's abilities and attitude.

And I'm not a fan, myself.

>> And the funny thing is that one of the best cooking Laurels I know  
>> became
>> one based a lot on her awesome abiity in A&S competitions.

Well, see, that's it: it _is_ funny, and it doesn't necessarily  
validate the process. I'm reasonably familiar with the work of the  
lady you mention, and it's clear the accolade is well-deserved -- I  
have nothing but respect for her and her work -- but it may be that  
this is a case of a broken clock being right occasionally.

I can only suspect that in Ansteorra, because of its size and  
population spread, it may be a little more difficult for Laurels to  
get together and talk about candidates and other pertinent issues,  
except in an organized way at big events.

> I have to say that is a mindset that pisses me off no end. What  
> possible
> rationalisation could there be?  Personalkly, I don't think A&S  
> Competitions
> add anything to the arts and sciences and hurt our development in  
> many ways,
> and I have resolved to never participate in any again (I did it  
> once, and no,
> I won that one, so it's not sour grapes).

They may not be a universally negative influence, but I believe we're  
in agreement that the potential is high ;-). In the last two  
competitions I entered (which is two-thirds of my total) I won the  
first by a perfect score in my division, and in the second, scored  
dead last (there were conceptual and artistic differences on what we  
were actually there to achieve) and still won a prize, while watching  
some horrible things being said to one of the runner-ups, and the  
first prize go to a rather unimpressive collection of non-period and  
commercially-purchased products. Most of the judges could  barely  
read a McDonald's burger wrapper, when they remembered to remove it  
before biting into the burger, and would be hard-pressed to tell the  
difference between a bite of said burger and a bite of the paper  
wrapper. Of course, that didn't stop them from tucking into my entry  
as if they hadn't eaten in a month.

> First off, many people are uncomfortable competing, especially if  
> they have no
> chance winning. Why should they enter a competition if they know  
> that many
> who are much better will do the same? What good does it do me to be  
> told at
> the end of the day that my needlework is worse than Mistress X's by  
> so many
> points or my soup tasted less good than Lord Y's sugarpaste by so many
> degrees?

Basically, I agree, but in fairness, one can make a pretty strong  
argument that competition is really against oneself. It's a pretty  
well-known belief among martial artists, for example, that the  
techniques developed, sometimes, over hundreds or thousands of years,  
are essentially perfect, and if you adhere strictly to the teachings  
associated with your system, you can't lose: you will, in fact, be  
putting yourself in a no-lose situation. Either you score the most  
points and defeat your opponent (which is sort of incidental,  
although not inherently bad), or you keep faith with what you've been  
taught, and emerge with the respect of your opponents and judges,  
your dignity intact, and, ultimately, dying with honor.

Probably the problems occur when people forget the differences  
between martial arts and war.

> Secondly, the feedback. I don't know how it works elsewhere, but  
> honestly, the
> feedback I got was a joke. I entered an 'instant' mustard sauce and  
> the
> translation of a German medieval cookbook with recipe redactions.  
> The mustard
> sauce won the competition (it took a few hours to make and required no
> particular abilities). My feedback consisted of 'tasty', 'cool  
> idea' and 'I
> didn't know they had instant food then'. The translation got almost no
> points, with feedbackers pointing out that I should have had it  
> bound, should
> have put the recipes in a 'peri-oid' font, should have put it into  
> a prettier
> layout (I used .txt for the sake of portability) and that it would  
> have been
> better to actually cook the things.  All of this in handwritten  
> notes done
> between tourney and melee, when the judges could spare the time.

It sounds like you needed more, better-qualified, judges. I love a  
good baseball game, and sometimes the umpires just suck, but you have  
to figure their stupidity will ultimately impact equally upon all  
competitors in the end.

> Thirdly, WHY? What is it about A&S that makes it even remotely  
> suitable for a
> competition format? How do you compare the relative merits of a  
> chicken stew
> and an embroidered belt? Why would I want to pit my skills against  
> another
> when I'd much rather - and much more productively - sit together in  
> the
> kitchen swapping redactions and ISBNs? Why not devote the time  
> spent on
> judging to workshops? If I go to an event, I always try to have the  
> time and
> material to teach a class. I wouldn't want to spend that time judging
> instead.

Mostly, I suspect, because we've been brought up in the SCA with a  
love of tourneys as the ultimate expression of achievement in good  
fellowship.

> In our kingdom, A&S is currently being shifted almost completely  
> onto a
> competitive track, which has greatly discouraged many in my Shire.  
> I think
> this policy is dangerous and hurtful to the SCA as a whole. But you  
> know, my
> opinion can't be important - I never enter competitions...

One thing I did when I was MoAS for the Southern Region of my Kingdom  
was to push for alternatives, most notably the non-competitive A&S  
display/expo. The best of them are run like a professional trade  
show, with each entrant having a little stall or table, sitting and  
shooting the breeze with all comers about the pieces on display.  
Sometimes (and this is my fave) the artist will sit and work on a  
piece right in the stall, which is both informative and also great  
theater. Highlights of the first one we did included Brighid ni  
Chiarain's display of peach pits and bizcochos, Jadwiga's sauce  
display (mostly, but not exclusively, mustards, IIRC), with a gentle  
from my group assembling a stained-glass window nearby, and Andrea  
MacIntyre's display of apple dishes and documentation on the other  
side. On one occasion when I actually got to participate in one such  
display (instead of running it, I mean), I sat in a corner of a huge,  
crowded room, quietly applying silver leaf to a pie filled with  
quinces. Some guy came over with a folding chair and asked politely  
if he could sit and watch, and I said that was fine, the more the  
merrier. He had all sorts of questions, which I answered as best I  
could, for the space of about half an hour. He thanked me when he  
left, and I realized it had been the King. It was kind of cool...

You might try to see if there are any like-minded people in your  
group and in some of the neighboring groups (yes, I realize not all  
SCA groups have a neighboring group in the next county), and see if  
you can set something up. Maybe there are some Laurels you could get  
involved in some positive way. It is, after all, their job...

Adamantius