Pasta la Feasta, Baby - Page 7
© Michael Martinez
Hence, when Frodo leaves the familiarity and comfort of Bree behind, the reader says farewell to what could have been an endless array of inns and taverns with meaningless common room encounters (or avoidances). Instead, the journey was made largely in secret and as an extended camping trip. Middle-earth no doubt seems to be so empty because Gandalf and Aragorn insisted on avoiding as many people as possible.
Rivendell seems pretty innish, though, and I sometimes wonder if The Last Homely House East of the Sea wasn't, in fact, an Elvish inn. So what if Elrond had the blood of kings and angels running in his veins? An Elf has to make a living, too. And his days of leading armies were over. Everyone seems to have stopped by there Dunedain, Elves, Dwarves, wizards. Heck, even Bilbo set up shop after a couple of layovers. He was clearly part of the local entertainment. Elrond may have had Bilbo on permanent retainer just so he'd maintain control over the Hobbit craze.
As far-fetched as that may seem, Elrond's chief economic function in Middle-earth does appear to have been to provide a specialized road-house or inn. Maybe only very important travelers stayed there, but he was a Half-elf with a mission to help defeat the Dark Lord. Ensuring that people running around the wild had a warm bed and a few good meals in the midst of their journeys was probably as good a contribution as he could make.
After all, armies travel on their stomachs. So do Hobbits, Dwarves, and Wizards. And Elrond seems to have been making a few silver pennies off his vinyards, or orchards. It's not clear what miruvor was made from, but Gandalf called it the "cordial of Imladris". A cordial is a liqueur (liquor). Elrond was supplying the goods, for sure.
That probably doesn't satisfy anyone's desire to find the recipe for lembas, but at least if someone asks you what people ate in Middle-earth you now have a better idea. They ate "good plain food". Just like us. Pass the peas, please. I'm getting hungry.
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