How the Food of Different Cultures in ‘The Lord of The Rings’ Connected the Various Characters

Filmmaker Kristian T. Williams (“kaptainkristian”) looks at the different foods and drinks consumed by various tribes, races, and cultures within the world of J.R.R. Tolkien and how these habits inform the reader/viewer of distinct personalities. Each form of nourishment also connected the characters together.

The very first act of cultural assimilation or acceptance is to parttake in each other’s culinary traditions. We even have an idiom for this. To forge bonds with new allies is to break bread with them. That is humanity in a nutshell.

Williams notes that several characters, such as the Hobbits and the Elves, have their own way of eating.

Aside from their manner what is the individual food itself tell us of these people and their customs. Roast chicken, sausage, pickled mushrooms, eggs and bacon. Hobbit food is simple but plentiful with a delineation between meal times often blurring into one another, eating lavishly and continuously from Elevenses until 6:30. While Elven dishes, in contrast, are quite utilitarian and mostly concerned with filling you up with as little as possible completely antithetical to the lifestyle of a Hobbit.