[Sca-cooks] so ... what do YOU eat.

[Anne-Marie Rousseau]

Hey all from Anne-Marie
The reason I do authentic SCA stuff is to try and get into that elusive
"medieval moment". Hyou know, the one where for a second you can suspend
reality and BE a medieval person. To my mind, the one thing I can control
about my environment at an SCA event is what I put into my mouth and that
means that for the time I sit at table in my camp that might be the most
medieval time I have at the entire event.

So for me, the foods I serve at the event are very important. Its not just a
matter of fuel (though that is indeed a consideration) it's a matter of
tastes and textures and making it as medieval as I can.

Given the activities of the day we do tend to hold to a more modern meal
schedule than our medieval counterparts might have but given the wealth of
period recipes out there we have eaten very very well for a number of years
with those :)

Breakfast will be oatmeal, cold smoked fish, hardboiled eggs, fruit,
pickles, etc. if folks needs coffee, etc. that's their own business ;). I
leave it to my campmates to take care of their morning prayers, etc before
they eat.... ;)

On the table during the day is a collection of meat pies, pickled things,
fruit, cheese, bread, small sweet biscuits, etc (all recipes documented to
period sources). People come in and graze as the activities of the day
allow, and we refresh the perishables throughout.

Dinner is early for modern people (but we like to do dishes in the daylight
;)) and can consist of multiple courses, each with a meat, several sides and
a starch and/or sweet, or it can be simpler fare of a stew like object and a
couple sides plus a starch and a sweet. We tend to drink wine or beer with
dinner.

Again, all the recipes are documented to period sources, and I try to match
them to the personas of the people in camp. Occasionally things like hummus
or smores show up but I blame my apprentice Allyn Smythe for that.

I would vastly prefer to prepare these things over a cookfire, but the SCA
in our kingdom hasn't allowed fires consistently for years, so I am
frequently reduced to preparing things at home in boiling bags and reheating
them on site with my trusty butane stove. That said, its amazing how many
medieval recipes adapt themselves well to this!

Again, what I eat really has a huge impact for me on making the event more
medieval. I can blur my eyes on the nylon tents next door, or the fact that
you're wearing glasses (my NOT wearing glasses makes the eye blurring easier
;)), or that he's wearing tennis shoes. But what I put into my own mouth is
something I cant blur my eyes on, so I take pains to do what I can to make
it add to the experience rather than take away.

Or so I see it...
--Anne-Marie