Selected Articles
from
The Gull Archives
If you would
like
to submit an article for The Gull, please
contact the Chronicler.
Eating at an Event
by Viscountess Talitha von Kopke
(being now Duchess Emma Fitzwilliam, OP)
(being now Duchess Emma Fitzwilliam, OP)
What you eat at an event depends a lot on when you left, what you do, how much money you spent and whether you had room for a cooler AND a Coleman. If you use a firepit, some of this may not apply. As always, the information here is the result of my own experiences, and these are my own opinions. This article assumes that authentic eating is not a priority, and non-period foods are discussed.
Assuming you had dinner on the road Friday and that you will eat lunch Sunday on the road you need to consider 4 meals or umptyjillion snacks depending on your habits. (As I said, what you do matters a lot, too.)
At first, I found that the easiest solution was to sacrifice the Coleman stove and fill the cooler with milk, sandwich stuff or other cold-serve foods such as pasties, pirogi (like a pastry but with bread dough instead of pie crust), the ever-popular cheese and sausages or what have you, and beverages. Breakfast Saturday and Sunday is usually cold cereal (the single serving boxes) but other possibilities include bagels with cream cheese or banana bread (baked earlier that week); for lunch and dinner Saturday I usually ate sandwiches. The tricks here are: for sandwiches, slice the meat, cheese, and vegetables beforehand (I was lucky enough to find a Regal slicing machine at a garage sale for 50 cents), and bring enough meat in thick enough slices that you can donate them to an impromptu potluck if someone invites you to join them for a hot dinner; and for other cold-serve foods, (except of course for cheese and sausages) cook them well beforehand. Do not try to cook and/or slice the day before (to have them nice and fresh) as you will be too busy. They will be fine in the refrigerator or freezer for a couple of days.
The disadvantages to the above are no coffee or cocoa for breakfast and a comparatively limited selection for meals.
The advantages, however, are rather significant if you're a single with no household and the bulk of your day is spent at the field and then at court, or at a war and busy marshalling, waterbearing or whatever while the fighters fight. Lunch breaks, if they happen at all, are never long enough to cook anything. Also, court generally outstrips daylight and who wants to cook in the dark? ("Please, come join me for tasty swiss steak, or maybe swiss breakfast cereal- I'm not sure I grabbed the right container.") Then, too, there's trying to see if your Coleman is actually lit in the daytime when the sunlight is stronger than the flame light.
Assuming you do bring a Coleman, here are some hints to make your life a little easier. Do bring something you froze and can heat over and over again, like a stew or a soup. As a personal note, I have a lot of trouble with potatoes in a frozen soup; they tend to thaw out rather grainy. If you froze the soup, you will need less ice in that cooler since it is one giant (contained) ice block. Don't try reheating canned foods in the can as there seems to be a coating with an extremely unpleasant taste. Jiffy muffin mixes are great for pancakes. Slice, cut and chop in advance (two or three days before the event) as much as possible. Some words on coolers: Two are nice to have-- one for beverages with lots of ice, for nice cold beer and sodas, and one for foods with blue ice packets and/or frozen soups. Rubbermaid is not entirely watertight. If your cooler has ice (or melt-water), I recommend keeping water sensitive foods double- or triple-wrapped in ziploc bags (alternate the zipper end) and stacked on top of other things or (if your cooler came with one) in the basket shelf.
If you're cooking, remember spatulas, serving spoons, mixing bowls, spices (including sugar if you want it for coffee), and a way to rinse if not wash your dishes. Also remember to bring an extra packet of matches and check your fuel supply before you leave home.
NOTE:
Copyright of each article belongs to the original author. Reproduction rights are not given by virtue of their appearance here.
If you wish to reprint any of these articles, in whole or in part, in any medium, you must first get permission from the the author. Please contact the Chronicler, who will forward your request to the appropriate party and respond to you.