Food For Thought: A Meta Feast by Grundy

Starters - A New Day: The Dawn of the Second Age

The bit at the end came as a surprise to me, but I stand by it.

Read Starters - A New Day: The Dawn of the Second Age

While the Silmarillion includes the Akallabeth, and an account of the line of Elros is included in the Unfinished Tales, very little is written about the early years of the Second Age. Yet it is clear it was a time period that was full of not only possibility and promise, but great upheaval.

The end of the First Age had seen not only the defeat of Morgoth, but the near complete destruction of Beleriand, with only the Blue Mountains and parts of Ossiriand surviving the catastrophe. This left the elves of Beleriand starting over in Eriador unless they elected to accompany the Army of the West back to Aman. The Men who had formerly made Beleriand their home faced a similar choice – make a fresh start in Eriador or sail to the new land of Elenna, an island in the western sea raised by the Valar. Two of the great dwarven cities, Nogrod and Belegost had been destroyed, leaving what remained of the Firebeards and Broadbeams facing decisions of their own about how to proceed.

In either case, whether they elected to remain in Middle Earth or sail to a new land, the Men and Elves of Beleriand largely faced starting over from scratch. (There is no indication how much the dwarves may have been able to salvage/evacuate from their cities.)  Any cities or realms they had built for themselves had been swept away; it is likely that not only the places they had known but also many plants and animal species familiar to them were gone, destroyed along with their habitats.

While it was surely a relief to have the prospect of peace, some must have been as conscious of what had been lost as the possibilities of the new Age. What’s more, while there was cause for optimism, there was also a lingering thread of uncertainty. Sauron had not been taken back to Aman to face judgement, nor had all of Morgoth’s forces been destroyed – at least one balrog and several dragons also remained at large, threats that would persist all the way to the end of the Third Age.

But on the whole, the early Second Age was a dynamic time, in which people and ideas were on the move and possibility was in the air. Elros, the new King of Men, was preparing to lead his new people to the land the Valar had raised for them, there to build a new kingdom to be proud of. Gil-galad, the High King of the Noldor, established the new realm of Lindon in what remained of Ossiriand, now on the western shores of Middle-Earth, and began construction of the new port of Mithlond. Celeborn led the surviving Sindar concentrated in Harlindon. (It is unclear whether Oropher moved east at the outset of the Age, or took some time to decide he did not wish to remain in Lindon.) The dwarves too were looking for a new start, with many survivors of Nogrod and Belegost moving to Khazad-Dum, but some choosing to remain in the Blue Mountains to rebuild.

Thus far I have limited myself to what can be said with some certainty; however, one can also speculate that it is likely that with the new peace, both Elves and Men saw something of a ‘baby boom’ in addition to the shuffling of their existing populations. It is also not unreasonable to suspect that it would have been a fruitful time in terms of invention, song/literature, and science. With so many of the peoples of Middle Earth coming into contact with each other as they sought their places in the new Age, not to mention the presence of the Army of the West prior to their departure, the time would have been ripe for an unprecedented interchange of ideas and knowledge. (For the first time, it would have been possible to have Vanyar, Noldor, Lindar from both sides of the Sea, Nandor, and Avari along with various kindreds of Men and Dwarves all interacting without their focus needing to be on the war against Morgoth.)

What’s more, there is a possibility the defeat of Morgoth meant there was also another people to be considered: the orcs. Tolkien never seems to have settled the problem of the orc to his satisfaction, however the published Silmarillion states that this is held true by the wise of Eressëa, that all those of the Quendi who came into the hands of Melkor, ere Utumno was broken, were put there in prison, and by slow arts of cruelty were corrupted and enslaved; and thus did Melkor breed the hideous race of the Orcs in envy and mockery of the Elves…And deep in their dark hearts the Orcs loathed the Master whom they served in fear, the maker only of their misery. There are further passages that indicate that prior to battle, Morgoth filled them with lust of ruin and death. We should also bear in mind that Morgoth’s ability to distort and manipulate the Children was made clear in his treatment of the children of Hurin – he was able to show Hurin all that was done to and by Turin; what’s more, Glaurung, a lesser being than Morgoth, was shown to cause Turin to be blind and deaf to the captive Finduilas being dragged past him. If Glaurung was able to affect Turin so profoundly, it is safe to assume that Morgoth himself is capable of far more potent manipulation.

If we take all this to mean that orcs were not acting of their own free will in serving Morgoth, but were rather the result of a process designed to break elves, producing an enslaved population even more susceptible than usual to the domination or manipulation of their spirits by Morgoth and/or his lieutenants, then the defeat and removal of Morgoth potentially meant that those who had been orcs could for the first time determine the course of their own lives. As they were of elven stock originally, there is no reason to suppose they would not be capable of living peacefully without the distorting influence of Morgoth or Sauron acting on them. They would presumably also be as welcome to sail West as any other elves, and would have powerful motivation to do so, given that the potential for healing/rehabilitation in the Gardens of Lorien and the power of Estë.  So in addition to Men, Elves, and Dwarves, the new Age may have also been a time of great possibility for those who had suffered under Morgoth the longest and most intimately.

Fish - Naming the Sea-Elves

Read Fish - Naming the Sea-Elves

In water they had great delight, and those that came at last to the western shores were enamored of the sea.  –The Silmarillion

…though they also loved water, and before the Separation never moved far from the lake and waterfall of Cuiviénen. – The War of the Jewels

When reading the Silmarillion, it is important to bear in mind the point of view being presented. The text is concerned primarily with the Noldor and presents most events from their point of view.

Nowhere is this more readily apparent than in the treatment of the third group of elves to undertake the Great Journey – first named as the ‘Teleri’ (‘Last-comers’ or ‘Hindmost’), for they tarried on the road, and were not wholly of a mind to pass from the dusk to the light of Valinor. It is explained only later that this is not their own name for themselves, but the name given to them ‘by those before them on the march.’[1] Indeed, ‘Hindmost’ is not the only marker of how the Noldor regard those they call Teleri – in War of the Jewels, it is stated the Noldor ‘asserted that most of the ‘Teleri’ were at heart Avari, and that only the Eglain really regretted being left in Beleriand. (The Teleri, for their part, held that ‘most of the Noldor in Aman were in heart Avari, and returned when they recognized their mistake; they needed room to quarrel in.’) [2]

Throughout the history of Middle-earth, the people of the third clan are as a rule referred to by the names the Noldor used for them – Teleri used primarily for those who complete the Journey but also occasionally applied to the third clan as a whole, Nandor (‘those who go back’[3]) for those who turned aside from the Journey prior to crossing into Beleriand, and Sindar (Grey elves/people) for those who remained in Beleriand.

This is not to say that we are not given the names the at least some groups of elves of the third clan use for themselves. The Silmarillion states that ‘their own name for themselves was Lindar, the Singers’[4], a name which was used on both sides of the Sea. This is the name that seems to be preferred as the name for their people by the elves of the third clan in general, with those Lindar of Beleriand the Noldor termed Nandor rendering the name Lindi. However, once the Minyar and Noldor had departed from Beleriand, the Lindar of Beleriand had little call to use ‘Lindar’ as a description, since nearly all elves in Beleriand were Lindar – in ordinary speech, they were all Edhil[5]. They instead had names to distinguish subsets of their people.

One such name was Eglath, the Forsaken People[6], for those who had been left behind seeking their missing king Elwë when the main body of the Lindar led by Olwë departed for Valinor. War of the Jewels, however, suggests that the Sindarin form was Eglain or Egladrim, and properly applied only to those who wished to depart and waited in vain for the return of Ulmo, taking up their abode on or near the coasts[7].  By the time of the arrival of the Noldor Exiles, the language of the coastal Eglain differed from that of the inland Lindar.

The Lindar of Beleriand also applied names to distinguish groups based on what region they lived in, Falathrim for those on the coast, Iathrim for those in Doriath (from iath, fence), and Mithrim for those who lived around the lake that afterwards bore their name. They also sometimes named those (Lindar) subject to Thingol the Eluwaith[8].

 

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[1] Silmarillion, Of the Coming of the Elves and the Captivity of Melkor; Silmarillion, Index of Names

[2] War of the Jewels, Quendi and Eldar, C. The Clan-names

[3] War of the Jewels, Quendi and Eldar, C. The Clan-names, Nandor

[4] Silmarillion, Index of Names

[5] War of the Jewels, Quendi and Eldar, B. Meanings and use of the various terms applied to the Elves, Sindarin, 3.

[6] Silmarillion, Of Eldamar and the Princes of the Eldalië

[7] War of the Jewels, Quendi and Eldar, B. Meanings and use of the various terms applied to the Elves, Sindarin, 4. Eglan

[8] War of the Jewels, Quendi and Eldar, B. Meanings and use of the various terms applied to the Elves, Sindarin

Main Course - Blinded By The Light

Read Main Course - Blinded By The Light

If there is one thing that stands out about the Noldor, it is how important light is to them. Even the struggle for the Silmarils, the motivation for many events of the First Age, is largely a fight over light – for while to Fëanor the jewels are his greatest creations, to most elves they are remarkable for their holy light.  One can speculate that during their years in Aman, light became central to Noldor thought and culture in ways that they themselves may not have fully appreciated.

When the elves first awoke at Cuivienen, the only light was that of Varda’s stars. There was neither sun nor moon, and the Two Trees cast their light only in Valinor. The first elves, therefore, were used to life by starlight, and prior to the Hunter had no inherent fear of the dark. Their first encounter with light other than stars came when Finwë returned from Valinor to tell them of the wonders of what he had seen there, and convinces the majority of his people, the Tatyar, to make the Great Journey to the Blessed Land. Even then, the only one of them who had seen this light was Finwë; they set out for Aman on the strength of his words and desire for the light and splendor of the Trees.

The Noldor are those Tatyar who came to Aman. They dwelt in Tirion, on the hill of Tuna, an area illuminated by the light of the Two Trees. By contrast, those Lindar who came to Aman lived on the shores of the Sea, where their harbor was lit with lamps and the light of the stars was bright and clear - they maintained a comfort level living in darkness and twilight. But any Noldor begotten after the completion of the Journey never experienced life without the light of the Trees. At best, they might visit the darker or twilight regions of Aman, but such visits would have been under their own control and they had the power to return to the light when and as they wished.

Even prior to the destruction of the Two Trees, the (presumably Noldorin in origin) account of the history of the Noldor in Tirion in the Silmarillion speaks of Melkor as a ‘shadow’ and his plotting not being done openly, but rather refers to the unrest he fomented among the Noldor as being a ‘seed sown in the dark’. All this emphasizes the centrality of light to the thought of the Noldor, who also describe thoughts or desires as ‘flame’ (which gives light) and hidden or repressed ones as ‘smoldering’. In short, the Noldor are shown to speak – and presumably think –  in terms of light and fire.

Between their emphasis on light and waning familiarity with its absence, when the Trees were destroyed, the Noldor were poorly prepared for the ensuing darkness. While the Noldor who embarked on the Journey might remember life before the light, the princes to whom leadership fell in the wake of Finwë’s murder did not. It is perhaps unsurprising that the Rebellion of the Noldor, the Oath of Fëanor, the Kinslaying at Alqualondë and the betrayal at Losgar all took place in the darkness prior to the rising of the Sun or Moon, when the movers and shakers of the Noldor were operating not only in a state of bereavement, but also found themselves in wholly unknown psychological territory, deprived the light of the Trees and with no prospect of its restoration.

On their arrival in Beleirand, the Noldorin Exiles continued to demonstrate the importance of light to their thinking, categorizing elves into Calaquendi – elves who have seen the Light – and Moriquendi – Dark elves. They did not seem in any way bothered that some of those Moriquendi were fellow Tatyar, or that to the elves of Beleriand who continued to live by starlight, the rising of the Sun and Moon were just as paradigm-altering as the destruction of the Trees was for the Noldor.  

But it was not merely the term – moriquendi were regarded as inferior to the caliquendi, who had experienced the Light of Valinor, and acquired far greater knowledge and powers by their association with the Valar and maiar. Light, therefore, was also associated with knowledge and power – while their attitude to the latter is debatable, the former was certainly something the Noldor prized.  

This ordering of people into light and dark would perhaps have been somewhat easier for the moriquendi to overlook if the Noldor did not also link dark and shadow to their enemy Morgoth, whose name (coined by Fëanor) contains the word ‘black/dark’.  Given this connection, it is almost impossible that even people who would not necessarily have had negative connotations for dark or night would not view being called dark as pejorative, regardless of Noldorin attitudes toward them.  That Fëanor could conceive no worse descriptor than ‘dark’ to apply to the hated Vala is rather telling. It should be noted that the Sindarin name for Morgoth pre-dating the return of the Noldor, Bauglir (tyrant or oppressor), while still negative, carried no such connotation of light or dark.

The Noldor were either unaware or chose to discount the effects of their emphasis of light as positive and dark as negative on the other elves of Beleriand. Their focus on light may not even have been evident to them. But by operating in a very different conceptual framework than their would-be allies, the Noldor set themselves up for difficulty – they would have likely found dealing with the Sindar difficult even had there been no Kinslaying at Alqualondë.

Dessert - Sugar in Middle-earth

Read Dessert - Sugar in Middle-earth

Do the people of Middle-earth have a sweet tooth? We don’t have much to base our knowledge on in the First or Second Ages, but The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings give glimpses of the food of late Third Age Middle-earth, including sweet dishes and desserts. Among those are included various types of cakes (including seed cakes and honey-cakes), various fruit tarts, biscuits, fruit jams, bread with honey, and fruits both fresh and dried (including apples, blackberries, and wildberries).

While these dishes and desserts are mentioned, there is nothing to help us deduce how sweet they actually were, or how much sugar may or may not have been used in making them. Arguments could be made that little to no added sugar was used for the fruit dishes. But in the case of the jam, it is reasonable to suppose some form of sugar was available to the jam-makers – most English jam recipes from the mid-1800s on include some form of added sugar.

Where did the sugar used in Middle-earth come from? Many people think first of cane sugar when they think about where sugar comes from. However, in Middle-earth we cannot assume cane sugar was the primary source of sugar, or even available in all regions.

Producing sugar from sugar cane requires a warm temperate to tropical climate. So while it might conceivably be grown in southern regions of Middle-earth (Harad and beyond), cane sugar would probably not be the first choice sugar in the latitudes of Gondor and further north. The same applies to palm and coconut sugars. While these sugars might be imported, by the time such sugars reached a region like the Shire, they would command a premium price given the distance and risk involved. However, several other potential sugar sources come to mind.

First and most obviously, honey is explicitly mentioned in the Hobbit. While Beorn is shown to keep bees and use honey, it is not unreasonable to assume that honey is used by Men besides Beorn, and it is possible that both elves and hobbits may have done the same. Tom Bombadil may or may not keep bees, but he serves honeycomb to his guests, and presumably could use the honey in cooking or baking also. It is uncertain whether dwarves would have kept bees - in the case of Erebor at least, we know the dwarves imported the majority of their food rather than engage in agriculture, so it seems unlikely that they would engage in beekeeping. But honey could easily have been among their imports.

In addition to honey, there are also various trees that can be tapped for sap to make syrups, including maple and birch. Birch trees are mentioned several times in Lord of the Rings, so the birch at least is known in Middle-earth; the maple is uncertain. (Eldamo lists an Early Qenya word for maple, citing Parma Eldalamberon 16, but I am uncertain how much weight to give that.) Barley malt syrup or rice syrup, made from soaked and sprouted grain, are also possible sweeteners. Given the name of Barliman Butterbur the innkeeper, it is probably a safe guess that barley exists in Middle-earth. Another potential alternative is sweet sorghum, which can be grown in more northern climates* and used to produce a syrup similar to molasses.

While it could also be applied more widely, for the hobbits in particular, it is possible that sugar beets would be a source of sugar. The Shire is modelled on Worcestershire in England, putting it in a climate that allows for sugar beets. (Worcestershire itself is slightly outside of England’s primary sugar production areas of the East Midlands and East Anglia.) Production of beet sugar was well established in Europe by the 1850s, so if we assume that Tolkien meant the Shire to closely mirror the England of his youth, it seems reasonable for beet sugar to be present.

*Minnesota and Wisconsin are not tropical, but sweet sorghum is grown there.

 

Dessert II - Sweet Speculation

Read Dessert II - Sweet Speculation

Random headcanon that may or may not be in any way defensible:

• Elves, being immortal and having far more time to devote to mastering intricate forms of cookery, are more likely to come up with things like sugar glass and spun sugar. The fanciest pastries and cakes are elven made. (The first time he has dessert in Rivendell, Sam is torn between admiring the finely sculpted cakes complete with spun sugar flourishes and artfully drizzled fruit syrup accents and thinking it seems like an awful lot of trouble to go through for something that’s only going to take a few minutes to eat.)
• Dwarves take to candy-making like ducks to water. While they’ve got a vast range of candies, rock candy is a classic favorite– and dwarven candy makers take particular delight in making ones that resemble fancy varieties of rock, such as jasper or agate. The best rock candies may be presented as carefully as any jewel. (The dwarves of Moria blow their elven friends’ minds when they come up with what look like edible opals.) They also have a great fondness for fried desserts like doughnuts, funnel cake, or jalebi.
• If it involves fruit, hobbits are there for it. Fruit cakes, pies, tarts, cobblers, custards, ices – you name it, they’ll be happy to try it. Jams, marmalade, and preserves are also greatly beloved in the Shire. But they also believe that fresh fruit picked at just the right time can be amazing all on its own.
• Men are the most prone to fads and politics affecting their dessert menus. (At war with Harad? No cane sugar – adapt all the recipes to deal with substitutes. Just made peace with Harad? Cane sugar is on everyone’s shopping list. The current King/Steward can’t stand blackberries? Blackberries are out of fashion.)  Will put sugar on just about anything, occasionally producing novel desserts that make the others look askance at them, like candied grasshoppers. (Dwarven reaction: ‘This is what you call a dare, right?’) They also like to do shaped marzipan, in a wide variety of forms. (The hobbits are rather bemused by marzipan fruit. The dwarves want to know what the hangup with eating bugs is after they see marzipan ladybugs.)

Cheese - What It Says On The Tin

Read Cheese - What It Says On The Tin

Lacking any other idea on what to do with ‘cheese’ in the legendarium, I searched out all mentions of cheese I could find in the books.  

"What's that? Tea! No thank you! A little red wine, I think, for me."

"And for me," said Thorin.

"And raspberry jam and apple-tart," said Bifur.

"And mince-pies and cheese," said Bofur.

"And pork-pie and salad," said Bombur.

"And more cakes-and ale-and coffee, if you don't mind," called the other dwarves through the door.

–The Hobbit, Chapter 1 An Unexpected Party  

 

‘Is the table laden? I see yellow cream and honeycomb, and white bread, and butter; milk, cheese, and green herbs and ripe berries gathered. Is that enough for us? Is the supper ready?' –Fellowship of the Ring, Book I, Ch. 7. In the House of Tom Bombadil

 

In a twinkling the table was laid. There was hot soup, cold meats, a blackberry tart, new loaves, slabs of butter, and half a ripe cheese: good plain food, as good as the Shire could show, and homelike enough to dispel the last of Sam's misgivings (already much relieved by the excellence of the beer). –Fellowship of the Ring, Book I, Ch. 9 At The Sign of the Prancing Pony

 

After so long journeying and camping, and days spent in the lonely wild, the evening meal seemed a feast to the hobbits: to drink pale yellow wine, cool and fragrant, and eat bread and butter, and salted meats, and dried fruits, and good red cheese, with clean hands and clean knives and plates. –The Two Towers, Book IV, Chapter 5. The Window on the West

 

They got there bread, and butter, and cheese and apples: the last of the winter store, wrinkled but sound and sweet; and a leather flagon of new-drawn ale, and wooden platters and cups.  –Return of the King, Book V, Chapter 1 Minas Tirith

From the quotes above, we can see that cheese is to be found on the tables of hobbits, Men (in both Bree and Gondor), and Tom Bombadil. While we cannot draw conclusions as to whether or not it would be counted among the usual dwarven fare, cheese is at least known to the dwarves – Bofur requests it when there is none set out already during the unexpected party at Bag End. Unfortunately, there is not enough detail given to draw any conclusions about the variety of cheeses that may be available in Middle-earth. 

It should be noted that while bread, butter, meat, and wine are all explicitly mentioned in connection with elves, there is no mention of cheese in an elven context in any of the books cited above, The Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales, Lost Tales, or any of the History of Middle Earth books. However, Eldamo does include words for cheese in their Early Quenya Words listings, citing Parma Eldalamberon #16 and the Qenya Lexicon. Thus it cannot be concluded with any certainty if the lack of mention of cheese in connection with the elves is absence of evidence or evidence of absence.