# Hobbit food



## MacAddict (Feb 11, 2003)

What foods from any Middle-Earth race for that matter do you like and eat whenever you can? Mushrooms for me, i can eat tons of 'em, i just love mushrooms.


~MacAddict


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## Ithrynluin (Feb 11, 2003)

From TLOTR: "A Conspiracy Unmasked":



> Hobbits have a passion for mushrooms, surpassing even the greediest



Considering MY passion for mushrooms I find that extremely hard to believe. 

I am sure I would love lembas (any other elvish stuff for that matter), but since there is no equivalent in our world, I cannot be sure.


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## Bombadillo (Feb 12, 2003)

I'm not particulary fond of meat... so thats it for dwarves and most human food... and elvish... sounds great.. but i think the great cakes and tartes from the hobbits are my choise


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## Turin (Feb 13, 2003)

I'd like to try some elvish stuff like lembas bread.


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## BranMuffin (Feb 13, 2003)

I might as well be a carnivore, GIVE ME MEAT!!!! LOTS AND LOTS OF MEAT!!!! No mushrooms, gross.


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## darkjedi (Feb 13, 2003)

I'd like to try a bit of everything, mostly I would dine with the Dwarves. Malt beer, ripe meat off the bone, ya know stuff like that.


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## omnipotent_elf (Feb 15, 2003)

Tomatoes and bacon for me


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## Turin (Feb 15, 2003)

I'd like to try some of the food the wood elves served to Frodo in the shire. I forgot what the guys name was.


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## HLGStrider (Feb 15, 2003)

Well I don't like mutton....

Not a troll.

I don't like mushrooms...

Not a Hobbit.

I drink a lot of water...

Perhaps an Ent?

I like red meat that is JUICY!

I hope that doesn't make me an orc.

I like Cheese Pizza and tomato sauce but not tomatoes.

That makes me an Elgee.

I also think I'd like to try raw fish.

Gollum...

And of course I am always the first to see if that plant is edible... he he

elves.


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## 33Peregrin (Feb 16, 2003)

I think the bacon and mushrooms sounded really good. Two of my favorite things. Mmmmmmmmm 

I would love to try lembas, they sound really good.

And of course, PO-TA-TOES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
Boil them, mash them, stick em in a stew.


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## omnipotent_elf (Feb 16, 2003)

i second the potatoes
especially the non NASSSTY chipps


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## Turin (Feb 16, 2003)

Why don't you just by some potatos, and then boil them and all the other stuff?


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## BloomLover12 (Feb 16, 2003)

*Thats not hard.....*

Lembas bread


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## Grond (Feb 16, 2003)

Just a reminder to keep your sigs down to no more than 3 - 4 lines. Also remember that if you're going to use a color... make sure it's one that can be seen on our green background.


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## Turin (Feb 21, 2003)

Is my sig to long?


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## Grond (Feb 21, 2003)

> _Originally posted by turin56 _
> *Is my sig to long? *


 No, yours is fine but Bloomlovers is both way too long and a color that cannot be seen with any clarity.


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## Grond (Feb 21, 2003)

> _Originally posted by Grond _
> *No, yours is fine but Bloomlover12's is both way too long and a color that cannot be seen with any clarity. *


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## Liat_ravensong (Mar 1, 2003)

FOOD any sort will do me fine.............though mushrooms are good............& bacon................& sausages! oh i could go on for hours!
 
i'm a hobbit in real life or so my friends tell me, if you hadn't already guessed!


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## Valawen (Mar 1, 2003)

Mushrooms! and raw fish! yum! (considering i'm playing an elf, i supposed i should just be satisfied with lembas bread and water).


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## Barliman Butterbur (Dec 16, 2003)

*Hobbit Food, Etc.*

HOBBIT FOOD, ET CETERA

This is an informal, rambling disquisition (an oxymoron if ever there was one) about what hobbits grew for food and/or pleasure, and some other items that branch off from it. (Done for no other reason than that it provided me with amusement.)

Starting with the obvious: Well, they didn’t run around naked, they wore clothes. So I assume that they knew how to weave cloth, which means that they may probably grew cotton (further evidence: Rosie Cotton’s surname), and whatever other plants are used for weaving textiles. That meant they knew all the machinery associated with weaving (at least hand looms).

Since milk is mentioned, they had to have raised cows and bulls (possibly goats), and hence knew how to tan leather for belts, scabbards, etc.

Since money is mentioned, they must have known how to strike coins, and knew how to mine. So they must have known how to make and use all the tools connected with that endeavor, including the means for purifying ore (I haven’t any good idea of what that might include). I assume we can include hammers, anvils, furnaces, and stamping dies.

“...a very fine morning for a pipe of tobacco...” Well, there you have it, Bilbo’s first mention of pipeweed, and of course we all know that “nicotiana” was grown all over the Shire, especially in the Southfarthing. So they knew how to grow and cure tobacco, and prepare it for pipe smoking. And so they must have known how to make pipes, which meant that (for clay pipes) they used clay of some sort and had kilns or ovens for baking the pipes. It wouldn't surprise me if they knew how to make corncob pipes as well. And both hobbits and wizards had smoked long enough to figure out how to blow smoke rings.

“They used to go up like great lilies and snapdragons and laburnums...” says Bilbo, remembering the effects of Gandalf’s fireworks. So we know they knew these flowers in addition to roses (again: Rose Cotton).

“Please come to tea — any time you like!” says the discomfited Bilbo to Gandalf. So they grew and harvested tea plants. They knew how to prepare tea leaves (I haven’t the faintest idea of how that’s done).

By this time “cakes” have been mentioned in passing. That means they knew how to grow sugar cane and wheat, and process and mill them into sugar and flour. They had to have chickens for eggs and cows for milk. They had ovens in their smials (or went to buy cakes from bakeries). They had to know about leavening of some sort, such as knowing how to grow yeast culture, unless they depended solely on the egg whites to make the cakes rise while baking.

“A little beer would suit me...” said Balin. So they not only knew how to brew ale and beer (not to mention porter), but they had to be able to grow malt, barley and hops, and processed the beer in brewries. This meant they also knew how to make barrels.

“But I don’t mind cake — seed cake, if you have any.” said Balin.

Years ago when my (now-grown) children were still pre-teeners, we decided to have a “hobbit party” and serve all the food that Bilbo served the Dwarves. (It was an extremely successful party, and everyone showed up in costume — I was Barliman Butturbur, the “worthy keeper,” and my apron said so!) So I had to look up what, exactly Tolkien might have meant by “seed cake.” I found a 16th/17th century recipe for English seed cake which seemed pretty authentic (which you can find at www.godecookery.com/goderec/goderec.htm#, a website containing a fabulous collection of medieval recipes). The recipe includes not only the usual ingredients of any cake (flour, eggs, milk, sugar, butter) but also such exotic seasonings as “crushed anise, caraway, coriander, cardamom — something flavorful and pleasant”. So we might assume that hobbits knew how to grow the various flowers and herbs needed to produce these seeds.

“Some called for ale, and some for porter, and one for coffee...” Of all things, coffee! So there must have been some place hot and humid enough in Middle-earth to grow coffee beans! So we had coffee plantations and coffee farmers! And I imagine there were coffee grinders as well, and the machines and tools necessary to manufacture them, by which I mean that there were craftsmen who knew how to make them.

“A little red wine, I think, for me.”
“And raspberry jam and apple-tart,” said Bifur.
“And mince-pies and cheese,” said Bofur.
“And pork-pie and salad,” said Bombur.
“Put on a few eggs, there’s a good fellow!” Gandalf called after him, as the hobbit stumped off to the pantries. “And just bring out the cold chicken and pickles!”

Wow! So — hobbits had vineyards to grow wine grapes, and all the accoutrements necessary to harvest them and process them into wine. They knew how to grow berries and make jam. There were apple orchards and apple farmers. Obviously the dairy farmers made cheese as well as other dairy products such as butter and clotted cream, and they raised chickens for the meat and the eggs. And they knew how to grow cucumbers for pickles, knew the pickling process, and they grew plants for pickling spices!

Now as for mincemeat (for mince pies): in my research I discovered this statement in a section of old British recipes: 

“A rich, spicy preserve made of fruit (usually chopped cherries, dried apricots, apples or pears, raisins and candied citrus peel), nuts, beef suet, various spices and brandy or rum. Old-time mincemeats included minced, cooked lean meat (usually beef) — hence the name. Traditionally, mincemeat ingredients are allowed to mingle, mellow, and blend for a month before being turned into festive pies, tarts, or puddings.” 

So if this kind of mincemeat was used in Tolkien’s day, and that’s what he thought of when he mentioned mince pies, and there’s no reason to suppose otherwise, then the hobbits grew all the fruits (and nuts) mentioned above (and to get “citrus peel” meant they had to grow oranges, lemons and citron — maybe even grapefruit), and they also knew how to make liquor — in other words, they knew the distilling process — even though no mention of it is made in TH or LOTR. Well, *who really knows or even cares???!!!* This is all surmise and just for fun anyway!

“Leave the bones on the bedroom mat!” Obviously, they ate meat.

Thorin “I like six eggs with my ham...” They raised pigs as well as foul.

“They were toasting mutton on long spits of wood...” They raised sheep. That meant almost surely that in addition to eating sheep, they made wool into all sorts of clothing.

“He was through, with a torn coat and waistcoat, leaping down the steps like a goat, while bewildered goblins were picking up his nice brass buttons on the doorstep.”

Brass buttons: They knew how to mine and process copper and zinc.

The whole episode with Beorn shows that they knew about honey, and raised bees.

Well, enough of that, except for one more thing: Farmer Maggot raised mushrooms. Are you hungry yet?

—Lotho


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## Gandalf The Grey (Dec 16, 2003)

Ravenously hungry, *Lotho!* 

Hard enough when adventures make you late for supper ... but then to read through a good scroll's-worth of information so sumptuous that you must finish it before going to partake of such sustenance yourself! (In fact, I'm having cold chicken none too soon this very night.)

A most worthy description, my friend.

Simple pleasures like these being just another very good reason for keeping the Shire a closely guarded secret.


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## Barliman Butterbur (Dec 16, 2003)

_Originally posted by Gandalf The Grey _
*Ravenously hungry, Lotho! 

Hard enough when adventures make you late for supper ... but then to read through a good scroll's-worth of information so sumptuous that you must finish it before going to partake of such sustenance yourself!

===============================

~~~Hee hee! I hadn't realized the power of my own writing!

(In fact, I'm having cold chicken none too soon this very night.) A most worthy description, my friend.

~~~Thank ya, Sir!

Simple pleasures like these being just another very good reason for keeping the Shire a closely guarded secret.  *

~~~Absolutely! It's a closely guarded secret guarded by no more than about 3,000 of our in crowd at present...

—Lotho


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## Warrior (Jan 5, 2004)

*hobbit food........*

If I were to choose any food from Middle-Earth, no question about it..... POTATOES....mashed of course, and don't forget the gravy!!! I'll even order it with fish, fry mine please.


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## Niirewen (Jan 6, 2004)

Well, I love mushrooms, and bread-type foods that hobbits seem to eat often. But anything meat I absolutely disgust (I'm a vegetarian).


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## Samwise_hero (Jan 7, 2004)

I'd have to say Tomatoes, Bacon and MUSHROOMS!!!! I love 'em!


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