[Sca-cooks] RE: Food-related Meta-Issue

[Terri Morgan]

I remember a reign where the Queen was allergic to anything mammalian... she
says, "I can't eat any four-legged furries". As her head retainer, I just
made sure that she had enough safe protein to see her through her day - only
one time did we ask the Head Cook what was on the menu, got screamed at for
daring to 'not respect the Cook', and still the regular populace didn't know
that HRM ended up not eating anything that was served (every dish, *every*
dish either contained beef, pork, or lamb, or was 'spiced' with it ala
"southern veggies" - even though the entire Kingdom was warned about her
severe allergy. Apparently, the cook expected her to just suck it up, eat,
and spend the next few days in the hospital - out of courtesy, doncha know).

I rather respect the Royals who know that they have particular needs and
quietly take care of them on their own with or without their retainer's help
(as required). Except for a couple of Head Cooks, everyone I worked with
that reign was quite understanding of Her Majesty's difficulty and made sure
that we knew exactly what was in each dish so she could choose what she
could safely eat. But perhaps that was because we also brought her own food
and were willing to either prepare and bring it 'behind the scenes' without
disturbing the feast preps or give it to the kitchen to serve at the same
time as His Majesty's preferred "Meat, meat, and more meat" dishes.

While having an allergy is easier to understand than having likes/dislikes,
I am minded that being constantly on stage, in heat and cold, and serving
the people as a visible presence is *work* - hard work. It is not something
I'd want to do every weekend for months on end and have to face foods I
could only feel resigned about each evening afterwards... I think giving the
Royals a little 'comfort room' isn't a bad thing*.

Hrothny
*Well, unless they are pains-in-the-patoot about it, in which case my
sympathy dries up and evaporates away r-e-a-l-l-y fast.