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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Edena_of_Neith" data-source="post: 316123" data-attributes="member: 2020">This question is meant very seriously.  I hope Colonel Hardisson and the others who take the Works of Tolkien seriously will have some answers to my question.  The question concerns the matter of foodstuffs.  With hobbits, it's obvious.  Hobbits lived in a fertile country, and their diet consisted of grains, fruits, vegetables, and diary products (and, rarely, meat.)  The Dunedain of Gondor had a warm, sheltered land between the White Mountains and the ocean, in which the growing season was quite long (two harvests possible.)  They had all the hobbits had, plus subtropical fruits and vegetables (but not citrus fruit.)  They had a steadier diet of meat as well.  The people of Rohan lived on dairy products.  Probably vegetables from isolated vegetable gardens.  I am guessing they ate meat when they culled their herds, but they did not eat meat too often - their herds were too valuable.  The orcs of Mordor had access to the warm, dry lands around Lake Nurnen.  Thus, they had a steady supply of grain products, and possibly fruits and vegetables in small quantities.  As for meat, I am guessing the orcs rarely ate meat - but when they did eat, it was from captured cattle, and from captured enemies.  The people of Rhun (including Dorwinion) had their vast fields around the Inland Sea.  The people of Harad and Umbar undoubtedly had a heavy diet of fish, but I am guessing they had an extensive system of canals and irrigated fields - where the major rivers flowed through the desert of Harad, they could live as the Egyptians did.  - - -  Where did the people of Imladris obtain food?  Where did Durin's folk, when they inhabited Moria, obtain food?  Where did the orcs of Moria obtain food?  Where did the Galadhrim obtain food?    I could see how Thranduil's people and Cirdan's people could have had fields amidst their woodlands, and so had a small but steady supply of grain - and in both cases, these nations could obtain foodstuffs from trade.  But what of Imladris?  Lothlorien?  Moria?  What did Tolkien say concerning this?  Tolkien tried very hard to develop his cultures and his peoples.  I assume he would have attempted to sort out this most basic staple of all cultures:  their foodsource.  I hope nobody chimes in and says:  magic.  I do not think Tolkien himself would have cared for such an answer.  Edena_of_Neith</blockquote>

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