[Sca-cooks] Largesse: What to avoid.

Susan Lin susanrlin at gmail.com
Mon Aug 10 13:37:28 PDT 2009


Just my 2 cents...

I've been catching up on e-mail since our return from Pennsic VERY late last
night.  I agree with my Mistress that there is a difference between largesse
and a gift.

I never give any food item for largesse (oils, fruit preserves, etc.)
without also giving a list of ingredients.  Then it is up to the Crown or
Coronet to decide how or to whom it is given.  If it is a gift (a personal
gift for a thank you or just because) I usually make myself aware of any
food issues the person has and I adjust my gift accordingly.  I have never
had any problems with this method.

When I have provided food items for a silent auction I again write down all
of the ingredients (and even provide a copy of the recipe) so that anyone
bidding has fair warning as to what is inside.

I like the idea of a booklet of period recipes - that's a lovely idea.  As
for not giving persona or culturally specific largesse because of the
possibility it might offend, I would be sad to think that someone felt
constricted to not providing largesse or a gift for the fear of giving
offence to someone.  I would like to think that if presented in a proper
fashion it would be received in the way it was intended and if the recipient
could not enjoy it themselves they would find someone who could.

Shoshanna (who is very tired but thankfully no longer muddy)

On Mon, Aug 10, 2009 at 2:19 PM, Susan Fox <selene at earthlink.net> wrote:

> ... which proved a Situation when he won Crown... the tournament winner is
> traditionally invested with a chaplet of rosemary upon victory, before being
> invested as Crown Prince.  After a while, we started to stock an alternate
> chaplet or just skip that part if he won.
>
> And of course, the cooks were all properly warned.
>
> Cheers,
> Selene
>
> avrealtor at prodigy.net wrote:
>
>> We had a King here in Caid that was severely allergic to Rosemary.
>> Couldn't even touch it or be around it (or anyone who had handled it)
>>
>> -Muiriath
>>
>> --- On Mon, 8/10/09, Antonia Calvo <ladyadele at paradise.net.nz> wrote:
>>
>> From: Antonia Calvo <ladyadele at paradise.net.nz>
>> Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Largesse: What to avoid.
>> To: "Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
>> Date: Monday, August 10, 2009, 12:54 PM
>>
>> Judith Epstein wrote:
>>
>>
>>> (Yes, I'm thinking of myself, here -- I couldn't accept a  rosary, no
>>> matter how nicely offered, because I'm not religiously permitted to accept
>>> that type of thing. But because it's considered such a breach of etiquette
>>> to refuse a gift, I'd be stuck looking very rude, because I would give
>>> precedence to my religious principles over SCA etiquette. A person who has
>>> particularly severe allergies might be in the same position, with regard to
>>> largesse of foods.
>>>
>>
>>
>> Except that the person with allergies has the simple option of saying
>> "thank you very mug," handung the basket to a retainer, and *not eating the
>> contents*.  If they were *really* worried, they could ask a retainer to take
>> the basket without handling it themselves (although I've never heard of an
>> allergy quite that severe, unless possibly the basket had been smeared with
>> peanut butter, wiped, and put back into service).
>>
>> -- Antonia di Benedetto Calvo
>>
>>
>
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