And let's not forget other, non-meat foods that come from animals, such as eggs, milk, cream, butter, cheese, and honey.Įveryone can imagine Elves eating fruits and vegetables, but it's important to note that they didn't necessarily just pick their food from plants that happened to be there (though they may very well have happened upon random berries, mushrooms and nuts, and fruits such as apples and pears). You can even try some camel for an exotic feel. Deer, boar, rabbit, goose, duck, fish, and more all appear. There's a word for that, and words for specific animals. So what else? If they ate domesticated livestock, they ate wild game. And preserved, salt meat, too, in case you thought they kept all that livestock just for fun. We also have words for domesticated cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, etc., and barn fowl and chickens, so it makes sense to assume Elves ate all of those.
But 'food made from animals' is right up there as well. In fact, a word for 'vegetarian' exists, as does a word for 'food made from plants'. Here is what others have to say about the Elven diet:įrom " The Silmarillion Writers Guild", this passage is based on an investigation of the Elvish languages the idea being that if the Elves had a word for a particular food, they probably ate it: But Bilbo compliments their food, and hobbits are connoisseurs of fine food and drink. As far as I can recall from The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, and The Silmarillion, the only thing they are explicitly said to have farmed is the grain used to make Lembas. In general, they eat very well, and seem to have a very diverse diet. Tolkien's History of Middle-earth series. Source: The Peoples of Middle-earth, volume XII in C.J.R. The Eldar did not give it to Men, save only to a few whom they loved, if they were in great need. It was made for the comfort of those who had need to go upon a long journey in the wild, or for the hurt whose life was in peril.
#What is the elvish saying on the lord of the rings ring how to#
"This food the Eldar alone knew how to make. ( The Silmarillion)Īs a side note, if you're interested in food in The Lord of the Rings in general, Michael Martinez used to have an interesting essay on the topic ( copy), a bit thin on canon quotes, but for example specifically mentioning elves eating apples and some fruit.Īnother good discussion is to be found here.Īlso, Lembas was not an everyday Elvish food. these folk are hewers of trees and hunters of beasts: therefore we are their unfriends. Green-elves of Ossiriand seemed to frown on hunting, as discussed in the last 2 links of my answer, and therefore may have been vegetarian:
However, there's no direct indication in The Lord of the Rings itself of Elves ever eating meat. The smell of the roast meats was so enchanting that, without waiting to consult one another, every one of them got up and scrambled forwards into the ring with the one idea of begging for some food. This also indicates mead and wine as drinks.Īs an additional evidence, we see in The Hobbit as the party witnesses the Elves cooking meat in Mirkwood: On a time was Túrin at the table of Thingol there was laughter long and the loud clamour of a countless company that quaffed the mead, amid the wine of Dor-Winion that went ungrudged in their golden goblets and goodly meats there burdened the boards, neath the blazing torches. From The Lay of the Children of Húrin, for example: Tolkien's Elves appear to eat meat according to the earlier stages of the legendarium.
I'm not sure if a whole diet was specified in detail, but one question that was answered conclusively ( here) was whether Elves were vegetarians: no, at least some of them ate meat:
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