Question 7 - How many total number of individual dishes to you want at a feast?

• Twelve
• 5 - 9
• Hmm...that's difficult to say.  Like I said, I enjoy the ability to choose from a variety of foods.
• Since I am a picky eater, about 12 dishes (I am assuming "dish" means each separate food on the tray) in 3 or 4 removes sounds right.  More is okay.
• how ever many the cook wants to prepare... but having several to choose from makes it more fun and increases the likelihood of finding something I especially enjoy. This to me is largely a matter of presentation . whatever the feast-people can do in terms of style and substance is great. A few well-prepared dishes beats lot of poorly prepared food every time.
• Most feasts are very successful with 6 to 10 dishes.  After that portion and quality control tends to disappear unless it is a Grand chef attempt, and even then the food gets tiresome.
• Hmmm --- bread and flavored butters or oils are nice for starters, a soup, a couple of meats and perhaps four accompanying dishes, and a fruit or sweet dish for last.
• 7 or 8
• Not picky, but IMO feast should be a minimum of 9 dishes (3 removes/courses, 3 dishes each). Feasts in period were much more oriented toward variety of food rather than quantity. 20-30 or more dishes were not uncommon, however, they were also serving around 10-30 people in most cases. In the SCA, it is generally impractical to serve a *truly* period feast to a crowd of 100 or more.  We just don't have the same resources they had in period. - Now if we had a staff of cooks and huntsmen, as well as butlers, butlers, carvers, and nobles who spent   their idle times hunting deer, boar and other beasts, we might be able to provide a more period feast. But  until we all become *actual* nobles, this may prove a bit difficult.
• Including the initial bread and cheese course, I think 2 courses of meat  and 2 or so sides with final dessert course suffices.
• What's the occasion?  Seriously.  Are we simply having a meal.  Are  we celebrating a high holy day?  Is it coronation of a new king?  Celebration of an elevation into peerage?
• I don't know.  I haven't ever though of that.
• Only three or so served at one time - things that compliment each other and can "interact" as that part of the meal.  The number of actual courses is of little consequence, I guess, so long as the amount of food is in a good relationship to the feast fee.
• At least five, not including bread, cheese, butter ,fruit or desert.
• Anywhere upwards of eight or nine.  Less feels more like a meal than a feast.
• At least 3 per course.
• I would prefer to have 3 exquisite dishes served on time and hot than a dozen different dishes poorly done and with long waits because cooks are running amuck trying to do way too much.
• twelve to sixteen
• There's no one right answer to this question. Enough that nobody goes hungry, not so many that some of them are totally wasted because nobody has room, anywhere in between is fine.
• 12-20
• nine to twelve
• Just a few too many---its a *feast* right!  and in a range of elements and spicing.
• Three or four would be fine.  (meat, veggie, starch, pickles, maybe...)
• I have found 4 to 5 removes of  3 to 4 dishes each to work quite well.
• Three dishes per course (remove).
• How many total number of individual dishes to you want at a feast? - I like one or two meat dishes and another one or two vegetable dishes per remove.  It makes for a nice variety and offers a chance to sample many dishes.
• I do not care. what ever the cooks want to fix.
• A total of 10-12 I think is good.
• If it is a large event, a soup, 2  or more main dishes depending on the event,  one side dish for each main dish, finger foods (veggies, cheeses, breads), a dessert. If it is a small local event, a soup, a main dish, one side dish or more, finger foods (veggies, cheeses, breads), a dessert.
• Minimum of three - starch, protein, veggie or fruit.  Beyond that, it depends on the theme and what the cook is trying to accomplish.  I don't think I've ever had a problem of too many dishes, other than the servers had problems keeping up. From a cook's perspective -- more dishes mean more work for the kitchen crew.  As long as they can handle it, I have no problem.
• Number of dishes aren't as important to me as the quality of the food itself, AND does the food going with it - and the dishes that follow it - do they go together well.  Frankly, I'm not partial to eating pickles and ice cream together in the same feast, if you see what I mean!  There are some foods that just don't go.  But, I've found that some cooks become so enamored of serving a real, period feast - that they forget that some of these exotic dishes don't taste well together.
• I like a variety because some things I simply will not eat;-) I've attended very good feasts with a small number of dishes and feasts with so many I could hardly sample all of them. I don't recall counting individual dishes lately.
• 10 to 20 dishes plus LOTS of bread.
• I think under 10 is fine.  Food should be plentiful in amount and not necessarily number of dishes.
• Three or four per course.
• Depends on the portions, but in a well portioned feast about 6 courses and a Savory.
• Not more than three.
• I like the symmetry of 12 dishes in 4 courses.  This allows a bread/cheese/fruit for the first a soup/fish/subtlety,  a meat pie/vegetable/sweet a meat/starch/sweet. Just my standard feast plan.
• Again, depends on the event. If it's a feast-primary (FP) event, ten. If it's merely to given everyone supper at a tournament (TS), one to four, depending on the dish.
• Please no more than one soup or potage!! At least one meat dish per remove and let at least one of them be hot as in not cold : ) though preferably just one to two vegetable dishes and more so the meats such as 2-4 per remove though they would not have to be large servings at all and sweets such as tart or other baked goods be limited to 1 or 2 per feast and other in betweens be fruit, cheese and bread provided on the eating table.  8-no less than 3 and no more than 5.... 3-4 preferable 9-as long as it takes to get my glass filled, some cheese, fruit and or bread eaten and my hands washed and a little extra for any trips to use washroom and empty plates/bowls.
• There should be at least one meat dish, two vegetable dishes, bread and some sort of closing dish such as cheese fruit or a sweet.
• 10+ would be nice.
• I do not consider Bread and Butter to be an appetizer. If your Feast is going more then 3 courses, Bread should appear more often. Say, every other course or so. I know that bread can really chew up your budget, both money and time-wise. But, you must consider that bread was a primary food source and still is. It was a part of the feast and it was always present on the table, in one form or the other. Besides, I have run across Feasts where the bread was the only eatable thing on the menu. The Cook didn't make it...
• In general, I'd like to see (in addition to bread and optional soup) 3-5 dishes per course, 2 courses, and optionally a dessert-like thing to end.
• Depends on how the feast is billed. A simple feast should have a plate of "munchies" - cheeses and butters and fruits or something with bread, two vegetables dishes, one meat, and a sweet at minimum. That's four, but that's minimal.
• At least 3 per remove (including bread).
• I've seen upwards of 15 to 20 dishes at a feast before. Too much food there. 10 is good.. enough variety without overloading people with flavors.
• This is so subjective, that I don't think I can answer it. I want good food that's edible. If there's 20 inedible dishes, it's not enough. If there are four delicious dishes with plenty to go around, that's great.
• Around ten or so, to provide variety to choose from, and allowing for individual tastes.
• I quite like 3 courses of about 5 dishes each (both as cook and as feaster) There's a place for both simpler and more elaborate feasts, of course.
• Bread with topping (honey butter, butter, et...) a soup and the main dish, so I would say at least three. Too many dishes on the table clutters things too much.
• For a simple dinner, one or two entrees and a few side dishes (sallat, cooked vegetable, maybe wafers and pears-in-wine-syrup or something like that to finish).  For a major feast, at least a dozen.
• Let's see First remove--olives and pickles, bread and butter, soup, perhaps a pie.  Second remove--a meat dish, a vegetarian entree, a starchy or rich side, a light side subtlety.  Third remove--a fish dish, a vegetarian alternative, a light side dish, a salad, subtlety, sweetmeats.  That would be 16?
• Hmmm... We usually figure somewhere in the neighborhood of 3/4 lb of meat per person (may be divided into two or three meat dishes), plus a starch of some sort and two vegetables with each meat dish. So a two-remove feast would have a minimum of eight dishes. We also often add in an extra vegetarian main-dish type thing in each remove. And then we've had some meat-intensive feasts that are just a larger quantity of meat and maybe one side dish. So it varies.
• The standard of  2-3 removes, with 3 dishes each and a desert works fine for me.
• I like to see 12-15.
• 12 to 18 should do it, figuring bread & butter, antipasto, soup, salad, 2 main courses and a dessert.
• At least seven.  12 would be overdoing it.
• At least 5, including dessert.  More is always nice.
• 8-15, but 8-10 is about perfect  (I have a small stomach).
• I dunno.  A good enough variety so even the pickiest of people can find something they like.
• 3 (main dishes) seems about right, but I'm not fussy. I'm more worried about time to serve. I'm thinking soup, main, and salad or something of the ilk. I really like having bread and cheese on the table from very early on (or some such that can be shoved in hungry little mouths, and thus quiet them).
• 5 is  sufficient including dessert...7 if you include bread/butter and salad as a dish.
• At least 3 but more than 10 get lost among the confusion, although well planned more might work.
• I can't really give you an answer. I think the most important factor  here is what the feastocrat wants the people to taste. If four dishes will do it, fine. If eight dishes will do it, fine. It's up to the cook.
• 9  to 15  with a palate cleanser in between.
• Minimum- meat & vegetarian main dishes, a soup, something veggie/raw, something starchy, something sweet, a drink. Max.- same thing times three. (The) Baroness proved  many  years ago that stomachs can't count to more than 21.
• 3 per remove.
• Oh my.  Lots of little ones, I like to try lots of new things.
• Whatever seems appropriate, as long as it is filling.
• That is something I leave up to the Feast-o-crat.
• At least one meat dish, one side dish, and  something sweet. Plus breads and spreads.
• 4 per remove.