Tasting The Dream: Feasts and Feasting in the Society for Creative Anachronism

Abstract

In the search for an "authentic medieval experience," members of the Society for Creative Anachonism, or SCA, explore a wide range of activities, from fighting to dancing, sewing, heraldry, music, cooking, and feasting. These activities are carried out in local practices, day- or weekend-long local events, and up to week-long Wars between different regions. Founded in Berkeley in the late 1960s, the Society for Creative Anachronism has grown internationally to over 32,000 paid members and countless other participants, organized into 19 Kingdoms, each with their own host of royalty and laws.i Seeking to re-create aspects of Western Europe before 1600, members consider how history looked, felt, sounded, smelled, and tasted.