Cram
Related Terms: Men of Dale, Lake Town, lembas
Source: The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, HoME
A compact, high-energy food carried by travellers in the form of compressed blocks somewhat like very hard biscuits.
Cram was first mentioned in The Hobbit where the Men of Dale at Lake Town packed it in the backpacks of Thorin Oakenshield and his companions, for their journey to the Lonely Mountain.
Cram was baked mostly of flour and meal but could contain honey and other high-energy ingredients. It was rather tasteless, hard and dry, but very sustaining. It’s main advantage was its durability.
In Tolkien’s early drafts for The Lord of the Rings cram featured in several places. The published work, however, mentions it only once, when Gimli is delighted to discover that lembas is far tastier.
Editor’s Note: In describing cram Tolkien uses his “author’s voice” addressing the reader directly, and his description is reminiscent of the ‘hard tack’, issued well into the 1960s, in the Field Rations of British Military Forces.
Cram was first mentioned in The Hobbit where the Men of Dale at Lake Town packed it in the backpacks of Thorin Oakenshield and his companions, for their journey to the Lonely Mountain.
Cram was baked mostly of flour and meal but could contain honey and other high-energy ingredients. It was rather tasteless, hard and dry, but very sustaining. It’s main advantage was its durability.
In Tolkien’s early drafts for The Lord of the Rings cram featured in several places. The published work, however, mentions it only once, when Gimli is delighted to discover that lembas is far tastier.
Editor’s Note: In describing cram Tolkien uses his “author’s voice” addressing the reader directly, and his description is reminiscent of the ‘hard tack’, issued well into the 1960s, in the Field Rations of British Military Forces.
Encyclopedia entry originally written by Arien