[Sca-cooks] Game for Your Feast

[Claire Clarke]

----------------------------------------------------------------------

<<< Also I get a little weary of saying 'here
in Australia' as if I'm some kind of representative. In fact what I said is
not true of either all parts of Australia or all parts of the Kingdom of
Lochac.>>>

Exactly. The only time I've seen much on the differences between different
parts of Lochac was when we were talking about modern Australian meat pies
and "floaters". And since I'm on the Lochac mail list, some of the comments
from there. I might at first assume that, since the populated points in
Australia ring the coast that fish would be fairly, or at least equally,
available. But that may well be wrong. 

<<< 
In terms of general eating most parts are pretty much the same (apart from
tropical fruits being cheaper in the tropical areas and so on). However in
terms of game or hunting there is a certain amount of hunting in the
Northern Territory (feral pig and water buffalo) but not much except duck
elsewhere, and there is no SCA in the NT. 
Fish is not hard to come by, but it is quite expensive, especially salmon or
tuna, or European fish like sole or flounder. Shellfish and crustaceans are
also dear. I have a feeling most of our fish goes to Japan and China. This
is probably one of the reasons it is not commonly served at feasts. The
other is just habit and a certain lingering suspicion. We have a large
contingent of the 'meat and vegies' brigade. At my last feast I served some
lovely hoki that I got quite cheap. It's not a period fish (not for Europe
anyway) but the recipe I was cooking was fairly non-specific about fish
species anyway, and it seemed like a fair substitute. It was well received,
but that's probably only the third time I've seen fish at a feast in fifteen
years in the SCA here.

Angharad