Many of you have had medieval feasts in recent years. Many more are probably considering it in the future. I just joined a FB group dedicated to period cooking and was linked to THE most amazing resource. After spending quite some time on the Florilegium, I ran into several articles that would be very useful to those of you who are planning a feast. First, here is the link to the main page of the source: http://www.florilegium.org/?http://www.florilegium.org/files/FOOD/idxfood.html Second, look for the series (about 1/4 of the way down) called "Did you know it's period?" by Rowan Houndskeeper. He uses original works from the Middle Ages and translates them, then redacts them into modern recipes. BUT... they are relatively modern. Enough so that you don't have to go buy exotic ingredients, deal with repulsion at how weird they are, or spend all day on Google trying to figure out the methodology. For example, he gives a great recipe for, essentially, lemonade. First you make a syrup as a concentrate, then turn it into a sweet lemonade. The best part is that all of his sources are listed right on the site, so you can use the process as a learning experience, directing the kiddos to the original language and methodology.
Does waiting in line for a turkey leg at Ren-Fest count? LOL. I went to a Ren-Fest in Charlotte area and was actually very disappointed in what I saw there. I think having your own feast and events would be a great idea and cost less than admission to a Festival-Carnival-Money Grabbing event.
Vantage, we went to the Ohio Ren Fest a few years back when the kids were doing Medieval. We went during the week, which was geared toward "school groups", and was suppose to be "educational". We were charged a huge amount for the "privilege" of coming in and spending more money. COMPLETE WASTE!!! Amie, if I can find the pictures of my kids from the feast we had then, I'll post them. Rachael was doing MOH 2 with a group of middle school girls. My younger two got to dress up for the feast, too. Narnia had just come out, and Phillip's best friend had a Narnian costume, which Phillip borrowed. He was the only guy (knight) there.
I shall always associate medieval feasts with the role of the tickler. Henry VIII was well-known for eating huge amounts of food. When he and his guests were full, the tickler would use a feather on their throats to induce vomiting. That freed up some more room so they could proceed to the next course. I seem to remember one of the Horrible History books covered this. Maybe it was the one about the Tudors.