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Feast and Food - proposal

Meal Plan

CollationThe event price includes these meals

  • Friday night dinner (available later in the evening for those who arrive late)
  • cooked breakfasts Saturday and Sunday
  • plated lunches Saturday and Sunday
  • Feast on Saturday night

and also

  • tea, coffee each morning, cordial through the event
  • snacks during (and immediately after) Crown Tournament
  • late-night snacks around the bonfire on Saturday

Friday dinner

To be determined, but aiming for something simple, hearty and able to be prepared in advance as much as possible. We don't gain access to site until ~4pm, so have limited time in the kitchen on site before dinner service begins.

Breakfasts

We usually offer porridge, stewed fruit and some selection of bacon, scrambled eggs, sausages, and mushrooms; plus bread, milk, butter, sugar, tea, coffee, etc.

We don't try too hard to be medieval before 9am - we prefer happily-caffeinated SCAdians to authentically-grumpy ones.

Lunches

Inspired by the basket lunches at Darton's May Crown Tournaments; served on plates with cloth napkins: it's nicer to eat in style and comfort.

Likely lunch is: hearty pie, and some extras for those who wish them - salad, nuts, fruit, etc.

 

Baskets

Our Barony has recently bought 72 (now, in 2015, we have even more) stainless steel platters, that are about the size of the wicker baskets we'd previously considered. As the feast cook doesn't need them until later in the afternoon, we'll use these for lunches.

Snacks

During the tournament snacks will make the rounds: fruit, nuts, and perhaps something meatier from the BBQs (so we don't disturb the feast-cook in the kitchen). Feast left-overs will re-appear at the bonfire late at night.

Feast

Collation - veal piesOur well-tested feast-team: Vettoria di Giovanni da Verona (previously known as Caterine de Vantier) as chef, Anna de Wilde plating, and William de Cameron and Katherina Weyssin managing service and front-of-house. Of course, the feast will be in the style of 16thC Roman popes, because that's what Vettoria does best.

Vettoria will decide the menu closer to the event, but it will be similar in style to the Midwinter Coronation Feast in 2010, the Canterbury Faire Feast in 2012, and the Bloth Feast in 2013, and the May Crown Feast from 2015 (all produced by the same team).

Plans for refining our "standard" feast:

  • starting earlier, so the first courses become "pre-dinner nibbles", and the first hearty course comes about when modern people expect dinner
  • speeding up service and plating, so courses are closer together
  • reducing the total volume of food, so people get plenty, but not dispiriting excess
  • a bain-marie, to make it easier to get food out hot
  • more theatre! more display! trumpets! flowers! baby elephants dancing galliards while carrying sugar sculptures! (ok, maybe not the last, but you get the idea . . .)

Catering for special dietary requirements

We do our best to cater to any special dietary requirements.

For the feast: Vettoria typically prepares printed menus, which list all major dietary categories and suitable foods (we're updating how we do this, to make it closer to normal restaurant practice). We usually have menus on the tables, and the servers have access to detailed lists of ingredients, so that they can answer questions.

Food budget

Food budget for November Crown 2014
Meal Day per adult/youth per child Notes Cook
dinner Friday $7 $4 plain but hearty dinner - e.g. corned beef, roast vegetables, pottage, bread  
breakfast Saturday $5 $3 porridge; and a selection of eggs, bacon, mushrooms, toast  
lunch Saturday $6 $3 plated lunch - pie, and a selection of extras  
tournament snacks Saturday $1 $0.5 fruit, nuts and possible BBQ meats  
feast Saturday $18 $9

feast in mid-16th century Italian style

($14 - food; $2 - decorations; $2 - hall or food, as required)

Vettoria
breakfast Sunday $5 $3 porridge; and a selection of eggs, bacon, mushrooms, toast  
lunch Sunday $6 $3 plated lunch - pie, and a selection of extra  
miscellaneous   $1  - tea, coffee, cordial  
           
Event total (adult):   $49 $26    

Amounts are based on those we've used for similar meals for our last few similar events. No cooks have gone over-budget recently, most have used 85-95%.