[Sca-cooks] Feast costs/budgets
Lilinah
lilinah at earthlink.net
Wed Feb 20 13:49:30 PST 2008
Mykael Halfdan wrote:
>On another but related topic. The first feast I did on my own I had done all
>the research, planning and most of the purchasing (using up most of the
>budget) when I was informed, the weekend before the event, that I
>was also expected
>to prepare breakfast for Saturday and Sunday, all out of the same budget. When
>I questioned this I was informed that it was a standard expectation in our
>Kingdom (Meridies). I satisfied this commitment but it was an
>extremely long day
>and if not for a very dedicated staff feast would have suffered. I have done
>a couple of more small feasts since then and have made accommodations for
>breakfast. Is this a standard practice throughout the SCA? I find
>that this really
>impacts my focus on feast and would like to find some way to pass on
>breakfeast. Should I consider a written contract that specifies my
>"services" for for
>feast?
The West Kingdom does no feasts regularly. Most of our Kingdom events
(3 Crowns, 2 Coronations, A&S Tourney - not counting wars) are
camping, often at undeveloped sites. Our Twelfth Night Coronation is
usually held at a hotel and is strictly BYO-food. The only occasional
West Kingdom feasts are at our Collegia, which are usually held once
or twice per year at schools, and sadly not well attended. Whether or
not there is a feast depends on the site. Schools do not give us
access to their real kitchens for legal reasons, so we must use the
room where they teach "home ec." (don't know what it's called these
days), *if* they have a room for this. And when they do, they often
have quite old and malfunctioning electric stoves.
The Principalities do their own thing (hey, we're in NoCal). I
confess ignorance over exactly what Oertha (Alaksa) does - i'm sure
some Oerthan on this list can set us straight. The Principality of
the Mists, where i live and cook, has three feasts per year: two
Investitures, and the Bardic Competition and Feast. I *think* the
Principality of Cynagua has feasts at their Investitures, but i've
never attended.
Branches often sponsor feasts, and the majority of feasts within the
borders of the Kingdom are at branch events. Most branch events are
one day or one evening, although there are some that are weekend
camping. IIRC, the Barony of Darkwood has two feasts per year, while
the Barony of the Westermark has one (i don't know about Baronies in
Cynagua or Oertha). What the smaller branches do is varied, from no
feasts, to potlucks, to actual sit-down-&-be-served feasts. How
"period" they are is also quite varied.
Our feasts have never been truly large. They've tended to top out
around 80 at the nost, although i have cooked for 100 and 150. In
order to no longer be impoverishing their sponsors, within the
Principality of the Mists there is now a standardized size: 60 diners
and no more than $600. Our Royalty and their immediate retainers are
comped, so we are really feeding up to 72 on that budget, since up to
3 sets of royalty may show up.
I also don't know much about what they do in the Marches, which range
from far northern California - about a full day's drive from the SF
Bay area - to the border with Caid - good half-day's drive - to Guam,
Okinawa, and Japan.
The only time we ever have breakfasts or lunches at an event -
perhaps one to three times per year, if at all - is if someone
sponsors one as a fund raiser, either intrepid individuals or a
household or branch. The only time there is a dinner at a West or
Mists camping event is if someone sponsors one, either intrepid
individuals, a household, or a branch, or if the sitting Royalty
decree a potluck, any of which happen far less often than breakfasts.
Lately there have been "ice cream socials" and "lemonade stands" as
fund raisers at Kingdom summer events. While i'm not a stickler for
absolute and utter historical authenticity in all things at SCA
events, i find these to be quite jarring, especially when they are
"advertised" all around the Eric with signage (!!!) and hawkers, who
are "period", but not when they're shouting about popsicles. These
often have either or both Royal and autocrat sponsorship. The West
and its branches seem happy to have period food at feasts, why not
for fund raisers? (grumble, grumble, grumble)
--
Urtatim (that's err-tah-TEEM)
the persona formerly known as Anahita
My LibraryThing
http://www.librarything.com/catalog/lilinah
More information about the Sca-cooks
mailing list