[Sca-cooks] A History of Royal Food and Feasting

[Elise Fleming]

Greetings! The University of Reading (UK), in conjunction with Historic 
Royal Palaces, is repeating the course “A History of Royal Food and 
Feasting” (https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/royal-food/1).

This is a free online course (MOOC) which begins on 31 October and lasts 
for 5 weeks. Each week a different English monarch will be presented 
along with one of the royal palaces. You work at your own pace and can 
work ahead of the schedule or catch up in a week or so if you’ve missed 
a session. There are no tests, although there are quizzes to help 
clarify areas you might want to investigate. No one grades those and 
they don’t “count”! Two or more recipes are presented each week for you 
to try, but if you don’t cook or have the ingredients, there is no 
problem, although preparing a dish gives an additional flair to the 
experience!

 From their website: “Over five weeks, you’ll explore the history of 
royal food through the tastes of five key monarchs, and take an intimate 
look behind the scenes at some of the most incredible palaces in England:
1. Henry VIII at Hampton Court
2. Elizabeth I at the Tower of London
3. George I at Hampton Court Palace
4. George III at Kew Palace
5. Victoria at Kensington Palace

“Each week, you’ll be invited to do things like these:
*Cook royal recipes: from Tudor pies to Georgian chocolate, prison food 
to afternoon tea, you’ll get a cooking challenge to try at home, so you 
can eat like royalty.
*Get scientific: you’ll explore the flavor, nutritional value and 
medicinal benefits of royal food past and present, and investigate which 
era enjoyed the healthiest and tastiest diet.
*Hone your investigative skills and powers of deduction; you’ll evaluate 
evidence, artifacts and science to draw your own conclusions about royal 
food in different eras.
*Discover some surprising facts; we’ll share riveting tales and 
challenge some common misconceptions about palaces, monarchs, and their 
impact on dietary tastes today.
*Share your findings with thousands of people around the world: you’ll 
debate your opinions and compare experiences with expert mentors and 
other learners.”

You can find out more details in their FAQ: 
https://about.futurelearn.com/about/faq/?category=course-sign-up-and-completion

In the last session there were some 195 SCA members who participated out 
of the more than 10,000 who signed up. Participants came from all 
continents and, for most of them, this was new information, learning 
something about the monarchs, their time period, and the foods the 
monarchs would have eaten. Even though I was very familiar with the 
monarchs and the palaces, I found the course to be fascinating, 
stimulating, and often challenging. I even prepared a dish I never would 
have – and my neighbors have requested me to repeat it!

Please feel free to copy this to a group newsletter or e-list. Share it 
as widely as you like. It would be nice to have another groups of 
SCAdians take this free course!

Alys Katharine
-- 
Elise Fleming
alyskatharine at gmail.com
http://damealys.medievalcookery.com/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8311418@N08/sets/