Welcome Guest 

Register

Forum Home » Roleplaying » Out of Character Discussion » Elven cooking by the end of Third Age
Author Topic:
Elainiwen
Council Member
Posts: 353
Send Message
Post Elven cooking by the end of Third Age
on: November 14, 2017 10:48
I have been wondering about this a little. In roleplay it's often thought that something cooked in Middle-Earth should be based on medieval cuisine.

But with Elves it's very possible that they have brought or saved the species of spice, grain and vegetable from another regions or even imported the seeds from Valinor.

Actually considering the grain of lembas being originally from Valinor, it's a fact. Some consider the Mallorn honey as an Elvish ingredient, and Mellyrn are also originally from Valinor.

Besides those things, Elves have had many lifetimes to perfect their culinary arts. Perhaps all these things considered it isn't so strange to take inspiration from the cooking of later eras than the medieval, since it's possible (and even hinted) that Elves were more advanced.

But tell us how you think it is.

[Edited on 11/15/2017 by Elainiwen]
Gandolorin
Council Member
Posts: 24040
Send Message
Post
on: November 15, 2017 03:38
I’m very ignorant about what goes on in roleplay. But what we believe to know about medieval cooking (probably much less than we imagine) seems to be limited to European cooking. And what is sometimes shown in movies makes me think of stone-agers strangely transplanted into castles (which may not be so far off from reality – European (in a wide sense) hygiene certainly left massively to be desired by our standards in many quarters up to the 20th century!). Even assuming electricity and power plants to be something not developed by the Elves (too industrial, and thus Dark Lord connected – be it Morgoth or Sauron - for their tastes?) I would guess that they are way beyond anything we are – literally – able to cook up. The question is, would they ever have gone down the road of brain-dead artificiality that is rumored to have plagued the (late) Roman Empire, parts of the European Middle Ages and our current era? (And I’m limiting myself to European cuisine, never mind what possible crackpots in China, India, Africa or the Americas were up to.) I would think that they were more on the Greens side of what constitutes our current political spectrum, and thus tended towards ecological food-production. But then there are those proto-industrial Fëanorian (and generally Noldorin?) “freaks”. Hobbits: the pre-industrial agriculture of England (Sarehole) that he loved, and the Noldor, the Industrial Revolution part of England (Birmingham city) that he hated?

(If E~S reads this outpouring, I know what her comment will be: Image )
Image
Elainiwen
Council Member
Posts: 353
Send Message
Post
on: November 16, 2017 09:15
The Romans had some good technology without being industrial in the modern sense, though Elves (or at least the Eldar) as beings connected to the Unseen can use methods that not even them could have ever realized.

I'm not so sure about the European hygiene in the Middle Ages. The rumours were that Europeans bathed once in a few months, when even the animals in nature can groom far more often than that by the instinct only, daily if they could. There is plenty of evidence about the popularity of bath houses and steam rooms in the era.

I usually take some parts of history with a pinch of salt, because history was retold or rephrased even in history. Middle ages were probably not so romantic as some make it out to be, and probably not so awful as the others make it out to be either.

[Edited on 11/17/2017 by Elainiwen]
Gandolorin
Council Member
Posts: 24040
Send Message
Post
on: November 17, 2017 04:42
Since Elves were generally said to be far more resistant to illness or poisons than men, their range of edible things could very well have been far wider than for humans. I’m thinking along the lines of the drinking contest between Legolas and Gimli in TTT the movie (was it in the theatrical version, too, or only in the EE?). Or in real life that poisonous fish in Japan, the pufferfish, which must be carefully prepared by chefs licensed to prepare it, which when prepared improperly can in extreme cases be lethal. Or foods that need to be boiled (like the potato), leached, fermented or changed in some other way before edible by humans. Perhaps the Elves could snack on potatoes like we do on apples (giving the French name for the potato, pomme de terre or apple of the earth, a whole new meaning).
Image
Members Online
Print Friendly, PDF & Email