[Steppes] Feast vs. Catering

[Esther]

As a type 2 diabetic, who is controlling it with pills and diet, I, too really need to be able to bring my own food, or get together with other friends of similar state, to share our own potluck.
   
  It's crushing, since honey and sugar are the foundation of so many delicious sauces, and showy dishes. For me, that means no rice, no carrots, no peas, either, and very light on the legumes, please. Also, usually no bread.
   
  Thanks for bringin this up, Your Excellency.
   
  Esther

Diane Rudin <serena1570 at yahoo.com> wrote:
  I'd like to address another aspect of this issue, aside from the
perfectly valid ones of cost and period atmosphere.

I know people who are on various sorts of restrictive diets --
diabetic, heart disease, allergies, etc. -- who currently cannot eat
SCA feasts, and bring their own food to the event, including myself. 
(This last Twelfth Night was the first in a while where I was able to
eat the feast.) If we were to have Twelfth Night at a site that
required us to use their catering, that does not allow in outside
food, it would reduce the number of people able to attend Twelfth
Night, including myself, because we would no longer be able to bring
in food that we can actually eat. (For my part, I *hate* leaving
site to go find food. It totally breaks me out of the event mood.)

In the past seven years, since "that talk" I had with my doctor, I
have been to exactly two catered occasions at which there were
sufficient food options offered that I could eat a full meal. 
Otherwise, it's been only the salad -- sometimes not even that --
which was on my doctor's "approved" list. Both of the occasions at
which I was actually able to eat a full meal were $40-50+/person
dinners -- a wedding reception and an academic conference. All you
get for $10-15/person outside catering is loads of grease, fat, cheap
white bread, and high-fructose corn syrup. 

At least when the SCA is cooking the grease, fat, cheap white bread,
and high-fructose corn syrup, I can bring in my own food.

And before anyone tries to claim that either feast stewards or
outside caterers can provide special meals: there was an article in
today's Dallas Morning News about food allergies, in which someone
who had arranged for a special meal didn't recieve it, and had to
inject himself at the dinner table with stuff to stave off the
anaphylactic shock he was going into. As for me personally, I
haven't met a cook yet who truly understands my dietary restrictions.

I know that there are a few people who've gotten food poisoning from
eating feasts, and that's unfortunate. That hasn't personally
happened to me, for which I'm grateful. But I'd rather have the
event somewhere where I can attend the event, bringing in my own
food, than not be able to attend the event at all. If someone is
concerned about food poisoning, they can bring their own food to the
event too.

Just something else to consider.

--Serena



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