"If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world." — J.R.R. Tolkien
Each year, I swear I will never do this again.
And yet, for the third year in a row, I am preparing to host a day-long Lord of the Rings movie marathon – and cooking up a seven-course hobbit-themed feast, plus dessert, to serve my guests. Maybe it's because, like Tolkien, I too would like the world to be a merrier place.
This week's repast will help me and my fellow fans ready ourselves for the release of the new movie The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, opening Dec. 13. If you're familiar with either J.R.R. Tolkien's novels or Peter Jackson's film adaptations, then you know how important food is to hobbits.
In The Fellowship of the Ring, the hobbits Merry and Pippin fret that Aragorn, the human ranger who has joined their expedition, doesn't know about – and won't make time for — second breakfast, or elevenses, luncheon, afternoon tea, dinner, and supper.
Purists will note that Tolkien only wrote of six meals. (Jackson's films added the seventh). But since my hobbit meals are eaten during movie viewings, I keep to the films' seven-meal menu — and add in dessert.
Judging from Tolkien's writing alone, one would think the man was an epicure of, well, epic scale. He did, after all, pen the line, "When he heard there was nothing to eat, he sat down and wept." And he chose to begin both The Hobbit and The Fellowship of the Ring with food-filled parties — the first an unexpected dinner for dwarves, the second a grand birthday feast for Bilbo.
And so it's not surprising that for some fans of Middle-earth, myself included, food has become another bridge into the world that Tolkien so masterfully created.
If you are putting together a hobbit homage menu, there are many sites offering inspiration. One from Warner Brothers allows fans to submit and rate recipes. Another, from Strange Horizons, offers a detailed exploration of food in Tolkien's novels.