[Sca-cooks] Choosing a Cook, was Cooking and Serving Equipment

[Terry Decker]

The groups which I am most familiar with have no particular rule about 
requiring a feast cook to be a member of the local cook's guild, but that 
doesn't mean that things unintentionally work out that way.  Personally, I 
think that bidding for a feast should be open to every member of a group and 
in some instances to people outside the group.

What size of feast a person should cook depends largely on their skill 
level.  If they know how to cook for a small group and can scale up recipes, 
I see no particular problem with them tackling a major feast on their first 
try.  If they've only done family style cooking, I would prefer a little 
seasoning before throwing them off the deep end.

Bear

> But Aldyth's posting does bring up an interesting question:  One thing
> I've often heard is, "I'm not part of the local cooks guild, so I didn't
> think I was allowed to cook a feast."  Do any groups out there actually
> have such requirements?  Should there be such a requirement?
>
> Our group has no such requirement, but I have heard it said more than
> once that we do.  That distresses me, because I don't like to think that
> people who would otherwise be willing to volunteer are hanging back
> because of some perceived prerequisite.  On a gut level, I'd really
> rather not see someone cook a large and high-profile feast (such as
> Crown Tournament or Twelfth Night) as their first feast, but for a
> smaller feast, I'd be less concerned.
>
> How do other people feel about this?
>
> Arwen Southernwood
> Caerthe, Outlands
> (Denver, CO)