[Sca-cooks] Feast Thanks and Feasts

[Cat .]

I must admit, you have hit a sore point for me.

At this point in my SCA cooking career (ha) I am asked
to do feasts.  Before agreeing I usually ask the
autocrat what they have in mind (time, place, numbers,
and amount), then _I_ create a feast that I would like
to cook.  If the autocrat agrees then we set things
down in the written event bid (feast for 200, budget
of $2000.) My personal notes include that this
includes 16 comps, country and year or cookbook, etc
etc.  In the past few (hn wonder how many) years I
have done German, French, Middle Eastern; my budget is
geared to make a small profit (I aim for 10-15%) and
designed to provide good and plentiful food for all
who are on board.  I like to give my feasters their
monies worth, and so far I have gotten many rave
reviews (and just a month ago had several folks tell
me they bought feast because MY name was on it.)

However, I have reached ‘never again’ stage.  Sadly,
at this most recent 12th night none of the crowned
heads deemed it necessary to thank the kitchen crew;
not publicly by calling them into the hall to thank
them (though I am told the populace did toast the
kitchen, an event that no-one in the kitchen was aware
of) or by coming or sending a representative to the
kitchens to convey their appreciation.  As such I can
only assume that our feast (I take credit for
designing and shopping the feast (and for coming in at
a much larger profit than I intended due to some
incredible luck shopping (angus beef sirloin roasts
for $1.49lb)) but my kitchen crew worked their tails
off to make that feast happen, and THEY deserved to be
acknowledged) was not adequate or acceptable and as
such I will not subject the kingdom to another.
  
I was told ‘they are young’ but I feel saying thank
you is basic courtesy, no matter how young or old.  Im
not asking for cookies, scrolls, awards, or rewards,
just for two words and perhaps 30 seconds of their
time to acknowledge the HOURS the crew gave for them. 
As Gunthar said, If you didn’t like something, come
tell me, but DON’T DISS MY CREW!

Part of me will miss playing in a kitchen on that
scale, but enough is enough.

In Service and Sadness
Gwen Cat

----Original message----
Message: 8
Date: Tue, 19 Feb 2008 15:39:12 -0600
From: Michael Gunter <countgunthar at hotmail.com>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Feast thanks
To: Cooks within the SCA
<sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
Message-ID:
<BAY121-W33D1F72E6B26F2C8E5AFEDDF220 at phx.gbl>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"


> At some point in the > evening i was called out and
thanked in a
 rather off hand way. 
 
> But then a few weeks later when i was at a shire
level feast, the >
 same Royalty not only had the cook called out but the
entire crew - >
 which is what is usually the norm - and then gave
them all coins of >
 their reign.
This is one reason I refuse to go out for public
thanks. I've had
 feasts
that were pretty bad but we had to go and applaud the
cooks. Now,
I fully understand how hard it is to cook a feast,
I've done one or
two in my time, but I also don't feel I should applaud
a mediocre
effort. Also, I feel that if people don't like what
I've cooked them I
don't want them to feel they have to applaud me and my
crew. If
they did like it, they'll let us know in their own
way.
 
I do try to let my crew know I appreciate them and
they know they
have done a good job. But I honestly hate being
paraded out for
applause.
 
> If the Royalty didn't like the feast, fine, please
let me know you >
 are dissatisfied and tell me what was wrong. I'm the
Head Cook, i can >
 take the heat.
I agree with this. If something is wrong during the
feast or even
if a problem was found afterwards, I'd like to know.
 
> But don't snub my crew!<
 
I appreciate your protection and value of your people,
and I agree that
kitchen crews are totally amazing.  But I feel a visit
from the local 
B&B or Royals back to the kitchen is more impressive
than being part
of the show.
> Urtatim (that's err-tah-TEEM)
Gunthar
_________________________________________________________________
Helping your favorite cause is as easy as instant
messaging.?You IM, we
 give.
http://im.live.com/Messenger/IM/Home/?source=text_hotmail_join




      ____________________________________________________________________________________
Looking for last minute shopping deals?  
Find them fast with Yahoo! Search.  http://tools.search.yahoo.com/newsearch/category.php?category=shopping