[Sca-cooks] Uniformity was Atlantian Twelfth Night Feast

[Terry Decker]

Consider bread.  Hand shaped loaves will have some variation, but if you use 
the same weight of dough, similarly shaped loaves will be very close to the 
same size and will be very close to uniform.  Since the baker's profit was 
based on weight by regulation but sales were by the loaf, the choice of a 
uniform loaf that produces the optimal profit with the least wastage is 
rational.  Think "pennyloaf".

Uniformity provides for optimal division and a certain visual aesthetic that 
would enhance more extravegant singular presentations, so it might be chosen 
deliberately for those reasons.  In food preparation, it might be enforced 
by the uniformity of the tools for the preparation, which is why 
manufactured foods are uniform.

I would also suggest that artisan products are not about individuality vs. 
uniformity, but about superior craftsmanship which make superior products.

Bear


> So, I'm wondering if views on food uniformity might also differ then
> from now. Or do we both then and now seek uniformity? Today we do
> seem to seek uniformity in manufactured foods, but do we do so in
> chef made or artesian foods? Or do we emphasis individuality in such
> foods today to separate them from manufactured foods?
>
> Stefan