[Sca-cooks] Feast culture, was: food likes, dislikes & ettiquette

[Raphaella DiContini]

I've been involved with a number of culinary guilds spanning two kingdoms and have noticed that even within the same kingdom each group can have completely different guild and feast style. I've seen some where it is truly a group effort with the entire group researching together and the day of one person orchestrating an army of cooks who all work as an equal team. I've seen other groups where one person is the driving force behind it all, where much more of it is done in the week leading up to the feast and they have some helpers the day of, but it is very much one chief and a handful of indians, so to speak. 

I think we've pretty much all gone to pre-reservation for budgeting and buying considerations, but things like advanced menu posting can vary from months in advance to the week before the feast. One of my theories is that in our geographic area people come to feasts for many reasons, one of the main being the social aspect. Our feasts are held during the winter when it's too intemperate to camp so it's a way for people to still come together. Being a foodie I'd say the research and quality are actually more important to me than many of the other attendees, as blatantly modern foods would definitely be a detraction for me. I love what the West has done with their Perfect Period feasts which are researched down to the serving and table ware and served in the appropriate manner by a trained serving staff, and hope to achieve something like that up here in AnTir. 

 I've personally, happily, accommodated vegan, gluten intolerance, diabetic, and nut allergy food restrictions all in the same feast by advanced planning, and making just a few side alternates- and I still managed to have it all come from one single manuscript so it's completely do-able and I honestly enjoy the challenge.

In joyous service, 
Raffaella 


--- On Mon, 8/31/09, David Friedman <ddfr at daviddfriedman.com> wrote:

> In my case, it's more a matter of wanting to observe and
> encourage period feasts. A menu makes it easier to tell if
> it's going to be period or periodoid.
> -- David/Cariadoc
> www.daviddfriedman.com