[Steppes] Feast vs. Catering

[Jay Rudin]

Adelina asked:


> But how does going off site preserve the intergrety of the event for the
> individuals going offsite?

That's a fair question; I'll try to give it a straightforward answer.  It 
helps the same way going offstage helps.  An actor is expected to try to 
maintain the illusion on stage. Time off-stage is .. well, off stage.

Lreaving Twelfth night for the modern world and then returning to Twelfth 
night is far preferable than letting the modern world intrude even further 
into Twelfth Night.

> Well. Are there no period examples of a court taking prepared food with 
> them
> when they travel?

Of course.  This is the equivalent of SCA members preparing food elsewhere 
and bring it to the site.  That's happened before, and nobody objects. 
Many Twelfth Night feasts have included food prepared in advance.

> You'd think there would be something like that where we
> could organize for prepared food..... or mainly cold or room temp served
> food that might have been used by a court that was traveling?

Sideboards have been done many times.  Nobody objects to them in general, 
but the essential fact about Twelfth Night is that it is a feast. 
Originally, the event started around 6:00, becasue why would you go before 
it was time for the feast?  The event has grown to include much, much more, 
but it all grew up around a feast.  Holding Twelfth Night without preparing 
a feast feels like holding Warlord or Crown without the tourney, or 
Coronation with out the court, or a knighting ceremony without a new 
knight.

I'm not saying that everybody shares, or should share, my feelings, but you 
asked for an explanation.  Here it is.

Robin of Gilwell / Jay Rudin