[Sca-cooks] odd feast I went to

[Stefan li Rous]

Olwen asked about a feast she went to:

<<< I recently (last weekend) went to an event called Night on the  
Town.  The
feast staff was headed up by a fellow named Sir Xenophon Vaughn who I
understand wanted to do certain things on the menu way out of range  
of the
budget so he footed the remainder of the bill himself.  Very interesting
though.  One person from each table was called up to serve the table.  
 >>>

This is sometimes done here, especially for small hosting groups who  
don't have the manpower to provide servers for each table. And  
sommetimes for large baronies who can't seem to get the volunteers...

<<< Then
Sir Xenophon came out and addressed the assembled crowd and announced  
that
there were five courses and all would come out at the same time  
because the
kitchen staff also wanted to sit down to eat.  >>>

I thought at first it was the serving staff which he wanted to get a  
chance to sit down and eat. In that case, the solution is simply to  
plan enough time in the courses that the servers have a chance to eat  
their meal before they have to get up to serve the next course.  
Minimizing the time these servers stand at the kitchen door waiting  
to get the food for their tables helps minimize their time away from  
their table.

For the kitchen staff it, the thought is commendable, but it causes  
the meal atmosphere and probably the food to deteriorate. If  
everything is finished, it takes only a skeleton crew to pull the  
dishes together and get them to the servers. This is part of what  
comes with being kitchen crew. It is also possible to cycle some  
kitchen staff so not all have to be in the kitchen all the time.

This is not a five course meal. It is a one-course meal, although the  
course is rather large. Finding space on most SCA feast tables for  
one course of food can be difficult much less five times as much.  
Once the food hits the table there is no way to keep it warm, so the  
quality will go down. It makes for a more hurried dinner rather than  
a leisurely one staged over the time of multiple courses. It doesn't  
give time for any between course entertainment. The latter sometimes  
doesn't work for various reasons, but you don't have the opportunity  
for any this way.

<<< None came out sliced or with serving utensils.>>>

This is a problem at many SCA feasts. It is also rather unmedieval.  
They had servants for this. We can at least do some prep of food  
before it gets to the table. Again, even if we had the manpower to  
have the servers cut the food at the table, there is seldom the room  
to do so.

<<< Although I like everything that was on the menu, I, for one, did  
not like
the idea of all this stuff on the table (under ceiling fans) at the same
time.  What are your thoughts on this type of serving? >>>

Unless the ceiling fans were needed because of the heat, they should  
have been turned off. Among other things, candles often don't work  
well in breezes.

The meal menu sounds nice. The serving sounds like it could have been  
improved.  It was better than buffet style serving, though.

feast-serving-msg (128K) 9/24/06    Ideas for serving feasts. How to  
organize.
http://www.florilegium.org/files/FEASTS/feast-serving-msg.html
French-Tbl-Srv-art (7K)  5/22/04    An example of French table service
                                        translated by Angharad ferch  
Iorwerth.
http://www.florilegium.org/files/FEASTS/French-Tbl-Srv-art.html
meat-carving-bib   (9K)  4/ 5/01    Biblio. on meat carving by Thomas  
Gloning.
http://www.florilegium.org/files/FEASTS/meat-carving-bib.html
Servng-Roylty-art (10K)  1/ 1/06    "When Royalty Graces Your Head  
Table" by
                                        Dame Alys Katharine, O.L., O.P.
http://www.florilegium.org/files/FEASTS/Servng-Roylty-art.html
serving-soups-msg (18K)  4/14/07    Serving soups at SCA feasts.
http://www.florilegium.org/files/FEASTS/serving-soups-msg.html

Stefan
--------
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
    Mark S. Harris           Austin, Texas           
StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****