Tolkien Feast Week: A Look Back

Tolkien Feast Week became a tradition at Middle-earth News, and it all started with one person. Anna Maria Polidori, an Italian member of the Tolkien Society, created a Feast Week that commemorates events from The Lord of the Rings. Starting on Bilbo and Frodo Baggins’ birthday, participants “celebrate with an evening meal similar to the one the hobbits ate […] and/or engage in some activity described.” This means participants follow the early days of the hobbits' journey from Bag End by using the same ingredients mentioned in the books to make meals all their own.

Having discovered this tradition late in 2011, the Middle-earth News team waited and planned, and started it as an annual tradition in 2012. Middle-earth News Director Arwen kicked off the festivities on 22nd of September for Bilbo and Frodo's birthday. Officially, the only requirements from the book are wine and a toast:

Thursday, his birthday morning, dawned as fair and clear as it had long ago for Bilbo’s great party. Still Gandalf did not appear. In the evening Frodo gave his farewell feast: it was quite small, just a dinner for himself and his four helpers; but he was troubled and felt in no mood for it […] When they had sung many songs, and talked of many things they had done together, they toasted Bilbo’s birthday, and they drank his health and Frodo’s together according to Frodo’s custom.

The Fellowship of the Ring, Chapter 3: Three is Company

In addition to a lovely roasted herb-topped chicken, mushrooms, and potatoes paired with a crisp chardonnay, Arwen also recreated the iconic cake seen in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings film.

In 2014, Amanda went in a completely different direction and shared photos of The Hobbit LEGO figures feasting.

In 2015, Lily hilariously misread the prompt for the first day of Feast Week and thought that "toast" instead of "a toast" was the requirement. Her Hobbit Day feast included three different toast dishes and a spin on the film cake—a trifle!

The second day of feast week is when it's time to get creative. There are no officially approved ingredients, but the activity in the book is falling asleep outside.

Leaving the road they went into the deep resin-scented darkness of the trees, and gathered dead sticks and cones to make a fire. Soon they had a merry cackle of flame at the foot of a large fir-tree and they sat round it for a while, until they began to nod.

The Fellowship of the Ring, Chapter 3: Three is Company

Weather allowing, it's a perfect day (and night) to spend some time outdoors. The Middle-earth News teams enjoyed cooking over a campfire, twilight picnics, and s'mores.

On day three of Feast Week, the Hobbits chance across Gildor and his procession of elves. The requirements of this feast are white bread, apples, cold mead or white wine, berries and fruit.

Pippin afterwards recalled little of either food or drink, for his mind was filled with the light upon elf-faces, and the sound of voices so various and so beautiful that he felt in a waking dream. But he remembered that there was bread, surpassing the savour of a fine white loaf to one who is starving; and fruits sweet as wildberries and richer than the tended fruits of gardens; he drained a cup that was filled with a fragrant draught, cool as a clear fountain, golden as a summer afternoon.

Sam could never describe in words, nor picture clearly to himself, what he felt or thought that night, though it remained in his memory as one of the chief events of his life. The nearest he ever got was to say: “Well, sir, if I could grow apples like that, I would call myself a gardener. But it was the singing that went to my heart, if you know what I mean.”

The Fellowship of the Ring, Chapter 3: Three is Company

It's a good time to remember that the Middle-earth News team had members in different countries, and yet, the photos of this feast do tend to look similar. It's nice to think that anyone joining in the feast could be sharing a similar meal with someone an ocean away!

In 2013, Maria found a tutorial online for making an apple vase (or goblet, if you like). The original post is sadly lost, but you can see her lovely carved apple in the photo below on the right. Alice baked flax seed bread in 2012, and you can her loaf on the photo below on the left.

September 25 is a highly anticipated day for Feast Week participants (though the hobbits had no idea what was coming) because the menu requires bacon, mushrooms, and beer. This is when Frodo, Sam, and Pippin arrived at Farmer Maggot’s, who was the master of Bamfurlong in Marish.

In a short while fourteen sat down to eat. There was beer in plenty, and a mighty dish of mushrooms and bacon, besides much other solid farmhouse fare. The dogs lay by the fire and gnawed rinds and cracked bones.

The Fellowship of the Ring, Chapter 3: A Short Cut to Mushrooms

In 2012, Evie cooked a delicious bacon and mushroom gratin and staged photos in her cottage's kitchen. In 2013, Alice focused on dessert and made a lemon poppyseed cake. In 2014, Maria decided to give Farmer Maggot’s Feast a German touch. She cooked a North-Hessian bacon quiche, known as Speckkuchen, a popular snack on market days or bakeries. In 2016, Myla made roasted potatoes, roasted delicata squash, and mushrooms with bacon. As she said, what hobbit dinner is complete without mushrooms?

This is also the evening on which the conspiracy is unmasked and the hobbits bathe and sing in the house at Crickhollow. An appropriate evening activity for the Feast of Farmer Maggot could be to have a nice hot bath and sing one of Bilbo’s favourite bath songs.

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Next up, the hobbits spend two nights with Tom Bombadil and Goldberry. This accounts for the 26th and 27th of September, but it just meant that there were more opportunities for the Middle-earth News team to create different feasts with the same general ingredients. The requirements are “yellow cream, and honeycomb, and white bread, and butter; milk, cheese, and green herbs and ripe berries gathered."

A door opened and in came Tom Bombadil. He had now no hat and his thick brown hair was crowned with autumn leaves. He laughed, and going to Goldberry, took her hand.

‘Here’s my pretty lady!’ he said, bowing to the hobbits. ‘Here’s my Goldberry clothed all in silver-green with flowers in her girdle! Is the table laden? I see yellow cream and honeycomb, and white bread, and butter; milk, cheese, and green herbs and ripe berries gathered. Is that enough for us? Is the supper ready?’

The Fellowship of the Ring, Chapter 7: In the House of Tom Bombadil

In 2012, Lily baked bread and hunted down honeycomb for Day 5, and for Day 6, Oloriel put her green herbs in a salad and enjoyed orange blossom honey. In 2013, Rachel combined green herbs and berries into a gorgeous salad and took them outside to enjoy the ambience of the Old Forest; Anastasia made a chilled strawberry cheesecake. In 2014, Evie whipped up a fondue and did a berry and yoghurt layer for Day 5, and Valdís put out a whole spread (pictured below) for Day 6.

Day 7 of Feast Week is not for the faint-hearted. It is the day when the hobbits are trapped by a Barrow-wight in his barrow, and crucially for our purposes, there is not a meal to be found!

When he [Frodo Baggins] came to himself again, for a moment he could recall nothing except a sense of total dread. Then suddenly he knew that he was imprisoned, caught hopelessly; he was in a barrow. A Barrow-wight had taken him, and he was probably already under the dreadful spells of the Barrow-wights about which whispered tales spoke.

The Fellowship of the Ring, Chapter 8: Fog on the Barrow-downs

Arwen kicked off the tradition of spooky desserts in 2012 with her "Worms in Dirt" recipe, and Evie kept it going with her "Barrow-wight Mud and Grub Pudding" for 2013. In 2014, it was Arwen's turn again, and she made Barrow-wight cupcakes that are sure to turn your tongue and lips an interesting shade!

Feast week comes to an end on 29 September as the hobbits finally make their way to the Prancing Pony in Bree. After the travails of their journey, the familiar, homey food provided by innkeeper Barliman Butterbur must be a great comfort to the travel-worn hobbits.

In a twinkling table was laid. There was hot soup, cold meats, a blackberry tart, new loaves, slabs of butter, and half a ripe cheese: good plain food, as good as the Shire could show, and homelike enough to dispel the last of Sam’s misgivings (already much relieved by the excellence of the beer).

The Fellowship of the Ring, Chapter 9: At the Sign of the Prancing Pony

Since it's the last night of festivities, the Middle-earth News team took it seriously. In 2013, Myla crafted a beef barley soup and a blackberry tart big enough to feed several hobbits. In 2014, Rachel baked her own black berry tart and paired it with a butternut squash soup and a cup of black tea. In 2016, Valdis served up cold roast chicken, butternut squash soup, and her spin on a the blackberry tart in the form of blackberry puff pastry tarts.

After reading about (and looking at) all of the delightful meals that the Middle-earth News team made for Tolkien Feast Week, we hope you are inspired to join in this year, even if it's only for one night. Here's the list again!

• Day 1 – Sep 22, Bilbo and Frodo’s Birthday – requirements are wine and a toast, and a short trip outside for fresh air and a look at the stars (or clouds). All other celebrations at whim.
• Day 2 – Sep 23, Sleeping Outdoors – They slept outdoors (Do something fun for this night! Go camping, enjoy a bonfire with friends, be creative!)
• Day 3 – Sep 24, The Feast of Gildor – requirements are white bread, apples, cold mead or white wine, berries and fruit. After dark, if it isn’t cloudy, we appreciate stars.
• Day 4 – Sep 25, Farmer Maggot’s Feast – requirements are beer, mushrooms, and bacon, but we often round out the meal with, say, root vegetables, cheese, or seedcake. It is also the evening on which the conspiracy is unmasked and the hobbits bathe and sing in the house at Crickhollow. An appropriate evening activity for the Feast of Farmer Maggot could be to have a nice hot bath and sing one of Bilbo’s favorite bath songs.
• Day 5 – Sep 26, Feast of Tom Bombadil – requirements are “yellow cream, and honeycomb, and white bread, and butter; milk, cheese, and green herbs and ripe berries gathered.”
• Day 6 – Sep 27, Feast of Tom Bombadil Night 2 – Second night with Bombadil. Tolkien didn’t mention the meal for this night, so we use the same requirements as the previous night, but in a completely different meal. Be inventive!
• Day 7 – Sep 28, Prisoners of the Barrow-wight – This is the day when the hobbits become lost on the barrow downs and spend the night in a cave, captives of a barrow-wight. Time to get wildly creative.
• Day 8 – Sep 29, The Prancing Pony – requirements are “hot soup, cold meats, a blackberry tart, new loaves, slabs of butter, and half a ripe cheese; good plain food, as good as the Shire could show.”