[Sca-cooks] Documentation

[Laura C. Minnick]

On 8/20/2012 9:27 AM, Terry Decker wrote:
> I would say that food should always taste good, it just may not be to 
> the individual taste.
>
> I gave up competing many years ago when I decided that the uneven 
> quality of the judging made the evaluations worthless.  In one 
> instance, a judge graded the product down because I had used refined 
> sugar, and "everyone knows they didn't have sugar."  In another, I won 
> because the judge liked the product despite skimpy documentation.  
> Now, I do research, teach, occasionally display and sometimes prepare 
> feasts.
>
> I'm leery of being a judge because there are many things in which I 
> have little interest or knowledge and I would not like to stunt a 
> potential master with erroneous pronouncements.
>
> Bear
>

I quit entering contests about 20 years ago, for much the same reasons. 
My last entry, in a cooking contest, was a Crust of Tame Creatures from 
Platina, with documentation. The winning entry was a French Silk pie. 
Needless to say, I was confused and upset that a period entry with docs 
could lose to a modern chocolate dish, and it colored how I felt about 
A&S activities for a number of years after, though I continued in my own 
research.

However, I will judge when asked. If an entry is something I know 
nothing about, I will rely heavily on documentation, and generally if I 
ask a few questions of the entrant I can get a rough idea what they know 
about their work. If they don't have documentation, I pretty much count 
them out.

Liutgard

-- 
"It is our choices Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our 
abilities." -Albus Dumbledore ~~~Follow my Queenly perambulations at: 
http://slugcrossings.blogspot.com/