Potatoes

[Morthoron]

Originally Posted by Lalwendë

There might be taters in the Lembas, but I always think of it as a bit like Ship Biscuit but nicer and with less maggots and weevils.

Or perhaps they indeed kept the remains of the vermin in the lembas as a protein source, but always chose a smaller rather than a larger one (so as not to be conspicuous) -- the lesser of two weevils, as it were.

[Lalwendë]

Originally Posted by Morthoron

Or perhaps they indeed kept the remains of the vermin in the lembas as a protein source, but always chose a smaller rather than a larger one (so as not to be conspicuous) -- the lesser of two weevils, as it were.

Who's been watching Master And Commander?

Originally Posted by Bethberry

But then I've always thought of lembas as similar to Yorkshire oatcakes.

Yorkshire Oatcakes? (Imagine that said in the tone of Peter Kay when he says "Garlic bread?")

I've never heard of such a thing! There are Staffordshire oatcakes, which are lush (I had some for second breakfast in fact!). And there are breadcakes in Yorkshire - buns or barms to everyone else. But I've never heard of a Yorskhire Oatcake? Maybe this is some sinister secret foodstuff not available to 'foreigners' like me. I shall have to ask davem the professional Tyke....

[Morthoron]

Originally Posted by Lalwendë

Who's been watching Master And Commander?

It was the only memorable line in the whole movie!

[Bêthberry]

Originally Posted by Lalwendë

Yorkshire Oatcakes? (Imagine that said in the tone of Peter Kay when he says "Garlic bread?")

I've never heard of such a thing! There are Staffordshire oatcakes, which are lush (I had some for second breakfast in fact!). And there are breadcakes in Yorkshire - buns or barms to everyone else. But I've never heard of a Yorskhire Oatcake? Maybe this is some sinister secret foodstuff not available to 'foreigners' like me. I shall have to ask davem the professional Tyke....

Well, I don't know about Yorskhire Oatcake, but I think you'll find Yorkshire oatcakes discussed in a Victorian novel that is quite particular about Yorkshire habits, set in the West Riding at the time of the Luddites. They could, of course, be one of those local delicacies which have not made it into our cosmopolitan modern tastes, part of the disappearing features of the English countryside whose loss Tolkien so much deplored.

Originally Posted by Chapter 26, Shirley

'And will you have lunch with us?' here interposed Shirley, addressing Moore, and desirous, as it seemed, to turn the conversation.

'Certainly, if I may.'

'You will be restricted to new milk and Yorkshire oat-cake.'

'Va - pour le lait frais!' said Louis. 'But for your oat-cake!' - and he made a grimace.

'He cannot eat it,' said Henry: 'he thinks it is like bran, raised with sour yeast.'

'Come, then, by special dispensation, we will allow him a few cracknels; but nothing less homely.'

They are, or were, if the novel has it right in this passage, toasted on a fork over a fire. This Louis Moore is the French tutor and so comes equipped with French notions of cuisine, it seems.