servng-drinks-msg - 8/30/07 Serving drinks and beverages at SCA feasts. NOTE: See also the files: Servng-Roylty-art, serving-soups-msg, feast-serving-msg, jugs-pitchrs-lnks, mazers-msg, beverages-NA-msg, jalabs-msg, Orng-Lmn-drks-art. ************************************************************************ NOTICE - This file is a collection of various messages having a common theme that I have collected from my reading of the various computer networks. Some messages date back to 1989, some may be as recent as yesterday. This file is part of a collection of files called Stefan's Florilegium. These files are available on the Internet at: http://www.florilegium.org I have done a limited amount of editing. Messages having to do with separate topics were sometimes split into different files and sometimes extraneous information was removed. For instance, the message IDs were removed to save space and remove clutter. The comments made in these messages are not necessarily my viewpoints. I make no claims as to the accuracy of the information given by the individual authors. Please respect the time and efforts of those who have written these messages. The copyright status of these messages is unclear at this time. If information is published from these messages, please give credit to the originator(s). Thank you, Mark S. Harris AKA: THLord Stefan li Rous Stefan at florilegium.org ************************************************************************ Date: Fri, 29 Jun 2007 09:23:26 -0400 From: "Elaine Koogler" Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Beverage Service at Feasts To: "Cooks within the SCA" On 6/29/07, Michelle LR wrote: > Has anyone come up with a good way to handle beverages so that the > people are served, but not harassed and not neglected? > -- > Mel. Possibly divide the hall into sections and assign a couple of children to each section. Then specify to them when talking with them prior to the feast that they should only check at the beginning and end of each course, perhaps. Finally, you might possibly have them ask folks if they want their drinks refreshed and, if so, what kind of drink they want. That way, the table will be visited only once. They could then go and retrieve the requested liquids... Kiri Date: Fri, 29 Jun 2007 09:58:22 -0400 From: "Barbara Benson" Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Beverage Service at Feasts To: "Cooks within the SCA" On 6/29/07, Michelle LR wrote: > I need a little help in figuring out beverage service at feasts. In > Meridies it seems the tradition is to have children serve beverages. I personally do not subscribe to that particular tradition. Per Kingdom Law children under the age of 12 must be supervised by a responsible adult. In this part of the Kingdom, most of the children are volunteered for drink service so that their parents do not have to supervise them during feast because they want to enjoy feast. That leaves the role of supervising adult to the Hall Steward - and frankly, my hall stewards have waaay too much on their mind to effectively supervise a passel of children. My personal preferences in food service is to have enough adult servers (who have attended a pre-feast server meeting) so that each person handles one or two tables. They are responsible for all of the food and drink service for their tables, and they are normally more circumspect then the children in service. The service of feast is/can be an art all on it's own, and children rarely have the ability to understand the nuances of good service. A tradition that some people (again in this part of the Kingdom) have been trying to establish is having a separate Children's Feast that has its' own cook and a menu more suited to children. It takes place in a separate hall and is usually followed by some sort of activity to fill up the time that feast occupies. I have even assisted in one that the Head Cook was a pre-teen (13 years old) and several older children helped with decorating their Hall and setting up the tables and service. What it comes down to is what you are trying to accomplish. If you, as the head cook, are attempting to not only serve period food but serve it in a period manner - you are well within your rights to have restrictions on who you want to have perform said service. Especially if you are attempting to use more period serving vessels (instead of those horrid plastic pitchers). The drink vessels that I tend to use are much to heavy for most children to safely handle - assuming most feast goers do not want large pomegranate stains on their garb. Glad Tidings, Serena da Riva Date: Fri, 29 Jun 2007 10:18:04 -0400 From: Jadwiga Zajaczkowa / Jenne Heise Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Beverage Service at Feasts To: Cooks within the SCA > I personally do not subscribe to that particular tradition. Per > Kingdom Law children under the age of 12 must be supervised by a > responsible adult. In this part of the Kingdom, most of the children > are volunteered for drink service so that their parents do not have to > supervise them during feast because they want to enjoy feast. Interestingly, in our kingdom, I find kids volunteering on their own because they find it interesting (and I think they like being able to get up and roam around instead of 'sitting' through the feast). This means that as you are getting ready to serve feast, whether or not you have asked for servers, a certain number of kids come up and ask to help serve. We sometimes also ask for kids to volunteer, and they do. (Once one does it, they all seem to follow suit...) I've had good results with this, but different techniques work in different situations. In one case, where I had a lot of kids and a lot of adult servers (a total of one server per table) I paired each kid with an adult server and gave them 2 tables to serve. The only trouble was that the kids were so eager, I had to literally stop them and make them take a break between the 2nd and 3rd courses, lest the whole feast get served in less than 30 minutes! Most of the time, service at our feast is done in a one-from-each-table way, so if there are a relatively small number of volunteers, we have them do beverage service and bring the voiders/empty plates back. When kids do beverage service (and I don't generally put them on beverage service untill they are a certain height), it's done by having pitchers on the tables and water coolers with the drinks at the back of the hall. I know it's not period to have pitchers on the tables, but it does work. Then the kid can *see* whether the pitcher needs refilling, asks for it, and asks what you want in it. Another thing you can do with kids is have them offer handwashing before the feast, if you've got at least one for every table and a good mix of heights, so one can carry the basin and one the ewer-- if you've got more, one can carry the towels. They seem to love this, and it doesn't take long to teach. -- Jadwiga Date: Fri, 29 Jun 2007 18:34:26 -0400 From: Daniel Myers Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Beverage Service at Feasts To: Cooks within the SCA On Jun 29, 2007, at 9:03 AM, Michelle LR wrote: > Has anyone come up with a good way to handle beverages so that the > people are served, but not harassed and not neglected? Several events back I bought a few cases of empty wine bottles. I have the people in charge of beverages fill them and leave them on the table. When they're empty they get swapped out for full ones and refilled. The populous seems to like this approach, and it's cheaper and nicer looking than plastic pitchers. - Doc Date: Fri, 29 Jun 2007 21:39:26 -0400 From: Johnna Holloway Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Beverage Service at Feasts To: Cooks within the SCA Daniel Myers wrote: > Several events back I bought a few cases of empty wine bottles. I > have the people in charge of beverages fill them and leave them on > the table. When they're empty they get swapped out for full ones and > refilled. The populous seems to like this approach, and it's cheaper > and nicer looking than plastic pitchers. > > - Doc If you use bottles, I'd suggest making sure that they can be easily refilled. One of the feasts that I helped with a few years back had decorated glass bottles of varying sizes. Some refilled easily; others didn't fit under the faucets or filled very slowly due to narrow necks. Pretty but impractical for a long feast with a number of tables. Also a number of them didn't hold more than just a pint of water which meant one couldn't refill a table from one bottle. It was a drawback that the head cook hadn't anticipated when she counted out and did one bottle per table. BYOB had been discouraged since it was a school, so most people needed drinks. Johnnae Date: Fri, 29 Jun 2007 22:42:05 -0400 From: chawkswrth at aol.com Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Beverage Service at Feasts To: sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org Yes, it does get interesting when there is a lisping chirp from somewhere around your elbow; "Pardon me, MiLady, would you like some water?" We have a team of teens who have informed us that they WILL serve, and they have no problem with teaching the next generation how to do it. I would suggest doing the same-recruit your Teens! Team them with the enthusiastic younglings, but put a limit on the age and size of the children. I would suggest, given the maturity of your usual SCA child, starting at 8/second grade. And certainly put the teens under the Hall Steward. Helen Another Meridian Date: Sat, 30 Jun 2007 00:27:30 -0400 From: "Nick Sasso" Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Beverage Service at Feasts To: "Cooks within the SCA" -----Original Message----- If you use bottles, I'd suggest making sure that they can be easily refilled. One of the feasts that I helped with a few years back had decorated glass bottles of varying sizes. Some refilled easily; others didn't fit under the faucets or filled very slowly due to narrow necks. Pretty but impractical for a long feast with a number of tables. > > > > An appropriate fitting (or the aforementioned faucet) with a nipple on it, to which is attached some nylon tubing with a clamp . . . you are in business regardless of bottle size. Drop tube into bottle, and fill. Remove tube to got to next bottle. Long tube gives you some flexibility to move to tables and other distances. Put a Y fitting, and you can have water at faucet as well as to the tubing. I did this for brewing for several years, and loved the performance of the really simple and inexpensive tool. niccolo difrancesco Date: Sat, 30 Jun 2007 12:15:51 EDT From: Sandragood at aol.com Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Kids and beverage service To: sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org I would have to agree with assigning tables. That is how I have handled my feasts. Speak to them as a group before you send them out to the hall. Explain the courtesies of waiting on tables, even for beverages. Explain as someone suggested that they check at the end of the course. If you have some little ones (6-7) pair them up with an older child. This way they can still experience the serving but more in a mentored capacity. In Gleann Abhann many children volunteer on their own. Sometimes they are encouraged by their parents, but we also have a Page School that requires service hours. This is a simple way for them to gain their service hours and still be in the proximity (sight or sound) of their parents. And yes, it does give some parents a break, but it also teaches children responsibility and service. It's kind of like me making my older two children make lunch for their younger siblings. It relieves me of the burden but at the same time it teaches responsibility, cooperation, and a life lesson of providing for themselves and others. THL Elizabeth Donnan Date: Mon, 2 Jul 2007 10:46:38 -0400 From: Jadwiga Zajaczkowa / Jenne Heise Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Beverage Thanks To: Cooks within the SCA > I like the idea of the children refilling vessels on the table and will look > around and see what I can come up with that is better than plastic > pitchers. You may want to start with plastic pitchers from the dollar store, and work up to 2-quart beer pitchers-- usually $3-5 at restaurant supply stores. My experience is that you don't want glass or ceramic in local group equipment if you can help it, and affordable metal pitchers I've found seem to all give off a tang. -- -- Jadwiga Zajaczkowa, Knowledge Pika jenne at fiedlerfamily.net Edited by Mark S. Harris servng-drinks-msg Page 6 of 6