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

[V A]

We may be a bit of a minority, but I definitely don't think it's "weird" to
do period meals at events -- in fact, it's pretty much all I ever do. :-)  I
sometimes hang out with a small group of hardcore foodies that like to dine
together at events; there usually seem to be twice or three times as many
dishes on the table as there are people to eat them, and all the food is
totally period and totally exquisitely delicious, even extending to
delicacies like homemade charcuterie.  I feel soooooo lucky to know these
people. :-)

I also feel as if a bit of a victory was achieved this past Pennsic, where
we (my sweetie and I, and our awesome campmates who helped us out) not only
served up three delicious and historically correct dinners, we got pretty
much our whole camp -- even those who hadn't bought into the meal plan -- to
sit down and eat together, in the gorgeous candlelit main pavilion (with
white linen tablecloths, no less!).  There was initially quite a bit of
resistance from parties who thought the idea of a period meal for everyone
in camp was just too "out there," but despite a number of complications
(inclement weather not the least of them), I think we pulled it off pretty
nicely.

The flip side of the meal plan was that we also offered breakfasts -- and
while this was lovely, and gave us all an opportunity to start the day
socially and gather together at the front of the camp to see our fighters
mustering to head off to the battlefield, it was pretty much impossible to
stick to period foods.  Breakfast seems to be an intensely personal meal for
a lot of people :-) and everyone wants something different, so with a crowd
(20-25 in our case) variety was the best option: several kinds of cereals,
etc (I love Cheerios as much as the next guy, but ordinarily would avoid it
at events).  And when, on our last morning, a generous campmate offered me a
bag of rosy new potatoes, there was no way I could refuse.  (New World
origins aside, I have a serious weakness for spuds; they ended up in the
saute pan with olive oil and plenty of fresh thyme, and were served up
alongside scrambled eggs, which made for some very happy campers.)

But, yeah...period food all the way, typically.  I started inflicting it on
my campmates in college and haven't let up since. ;-)


Vittoria

On 8/13/07, Laura C. Minnick <lcm at jeffnet.org> wrote:
>
> Hmm. I'm not sure if I'm just weird, or if others like me haven't
> weighed in yet.
>
> Well, I try to have period meals, pretty much all weekend. ... <snip>
>