No one loves mushrooms more than hobbits

There are probably no creatures, whether real beings or beings from imagination, that rejoice in autumn as much as hobbits. The small, hairy people with large feet from Tolkien’s Middle-earth, specifically the Shire, are simply crazy about mushrooms or, as stated in the book ‘The Hobbit’, they ‘gorge’ on them more than even the greediest Homo sapiens.

The love for mushrooms as a favorite food does not only reveal the character of hobbits – they are the greatest gourmets in Middle-earth who grow their own food and enjoy it without reservation. Tolkien used this special relationship with food (for example, Sam did not part with a lump of salt during the iconic journey in ‘The Lord of the Rings’) to explain the character of this charming fictional race in more detail.

With song and drink
For hobbits, food, or the cultivation and gathering of seasonal produce, is a social act, an occasion for the entire Shire to gather with song and drink. Cooking is a way of showing hospitality to strangers (for example, Bilbo treated the company of dwarves to a lavish table), and a diet that mainly consists of homegrown, organically cultivated food speaks to how connected they are to the land, thus exemplifying a model of a healthy society. Given that there are hundreds of thousands of fans of Tolkien’s work worldwide, it is not surprising that a group of enthusiasts has dedicated themselves to studying the author’s relationship with food and its importance in his literary works.
Today, one can find hundreds of recipes, even websites dedicated exclusively to the cuisine of Middle-earth, and some essays attempt to uncover the origins of certain ingredients, answer the question of why Tolkien chose them, and what the diet reveals about the character of representatives of various races and peoples.

Home and family
On the website Strange Horizon, it is revealed that hobbits very likely obtain salt from dwarves who probably buy it from elves on the coast, while other ingredients such as potatoes, blueberries (from which they make delicious tarts), mushrooms, fruits, or bacon (pork) are grown in their region. The inhabitants of the Shire are lovers of coffee and tea, but since the climate does not suit their cultivation, it is likely that they import them or perhaps grow them in the warmer region of the Shire, Southfarthing, where the vineyards of Old Wineyard are also located. Fans also claim that Tolkien ensured that all ingredients were identical to those consumed by English peasants at the end of the 18th century. Rural life and dedication to home and family were also the greatest inspirations for the author in creating the characters from the Shire. In addition to the habits of old England, Tolkien assigned hobbits some of his own habits and preferences – he was, after all, a passionate lover of mushrooms and, like hobbits, of pipe smoking.