Quote:
Originally Posted by Kuruharan
In its heyday when their kingdom stretched up and down the Misty Mountains the dwarves must have had some native food gathering ability or they would not have been able to sustain such an enterprise.
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At least in the First Age, Mîm the Petty-dwarf was knowledgeable enough about food in the wild to sustain himself and his sons, and presumably his knowledge derived from collected wisdom on that score from his people. He even knew about the breadlike roots that were unknown to Elves.
Perhaps the founders of Moria relied on such techniques for survival, but as they became more numerous and powerful, decided their time was better spent in other matters.
I think that the greatest settlements of Dwarves might have gotten the majority of their food from other local races, but the more isolated or smaller(as Mîm demonstrates) might have been more likely to fend for themselves.