[Sca-cooks] Outlands Coronation Feast-PSA

[Stefan li Rous]

And I don't think anyone here has said this feast will be a disaster.  
A feast does not have to be a period feast to be a good feast,  
although in my opinion starting off not being a period one makes it  
that much more difficult for it to be a great feast.

Nor do I have any concern that Shoshonna isn't up to the task, after  
seeing some of her comments here in the short time she has been here.  
Taking over such a feast in such a situation does say a lot for  
Shoshonna. The comments here alone show it isn't an easy job and  
comes with extra pressure. The combined knowledge on this list has  
amazed me many times though and I suspect that if she needs help, she  
can find help here.

On the other hand, I have problems with this original cook's  
organization. The ability to cook is only one part, perhaps even a  
small part, of the job of a headcook. Depending upon the cook's  
skills and how "hands on" they are, they most likely will not cook  
every dish. A lot of the work of a headcook is organization and  
logistics. You can find quite a number of articles in the Florilegium  
and elsewhere about how to cook a feast. I suspect very few of them  
talk only about cooking the feast.

You can't put on a major feast alone, whether you prefer it that way  
or not. And thinking you can is irresponsible. Even if you could cook  
the entire feast alone, no one knows what might happen before that  
feast gets completed. If you are cooking the feast alone, it means  
you are even more essential to the feast. I guess that that is good  
if you feel insecure, but headcooks, and really any manager, needs to  
learn to get their sense of accomplishment from the team's success.

Sometimes things like Kiri's situation come up. I think I can  
remember stories told here of headcooks being involved in traffic  
accidents on the way to the event.  Yes, as in Kiri's case things can  
often still work out well. Sometimes making them work out takes such  
fabulous effort and work that the story makes it in to my fst- 
disasters-msg file. But isn't it better for everyone concerned,  
including the "customers/clients/eaters" if there is a back-up just  
in case something happens, someone who knows what is planned, where  
the food is etc.?

How many SCA Kings (or Generals) walk on to the battlefield having  
never discussed the/their battle plans with their subordinates,  
thinking they are going to win the battle by themselves or not taking  
into account that they, being a major target, might not be there to  
direct the entire battle? Gunthar?

Okay, I'm stepping off the soapbox.
   Stefan

  =====
And this isn't always a disaster.  Some years back, I was scheduled  
to cook
a Far Eastern event...I was the only one in our Barony who knew much, if
anything, about this cuisine.  I did all of the research, came up with a
recipe, did a pre-cook, got everything ready.  Then a couple of days  
before
the event, I got word that my step-mother has passed away.  And I  
needed the
other person who really knew what I was doing with me...my husband!  Our
friends from our group and several other neighboring groups picked up  
where
I left off and cooked what I'm given to understand, a dynamite  
feast.  So it
can be done...

Kiri

On Wed, Apr 22, 2009 at 10:29 AM, Deborah Hammons
<mistressaldyth at gmail.com>wrote:

Just a little aside.  The group Shoshonna lives in has cooks.  Some of
them,
the prior cook to coronation being one of them, prefer to work alone.  I
think the last time he cooked, Shoshonna did quite a bit of pre  
cooking for
him.
She will do just fine.  And there are a number of us who are ready to  
help
if she needs it.

Aldyth

--------
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
    Mark S. Harris           Austin, Texas           
StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****