Feast Week

Feast Week – September 22 – 29, Annually

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This fantastically yummy way to celebrate Tolkien’s life and work was begun by Anna Maria Polidori, an Italian member of the UK Tolkien Society. Starting on Bilbo and Frodo Baggins’ mutual birthdays, September 22, participants follow the first 8 days of Frodo’s journey to Rivendell by cooking meals with the same ingredients (and sometimes, atmosphere) as he did or experienced.

Each year Middle-earth News joins in the celebration. Starting every September 22, and continuing through September 29, our staff members post their chosen meal for that day, sharing their process, recipes, and photos with you. Our hope is to inspire each of you to cook your own meal and join in the tasty fun of Feast Week.

The following are meal requirements:

  • Day 1 – Sep 22, Bilbo and Frodo’s Birthday – requirements are wine and a toast, and a short trip outside for fresh air and a look at the stars (or clouds). All other celebrations at whim.
  • Day 2 – Sep 23, Sleeping Outdoors – They slept outdoors (Do something fun for this night! Go camping, enjoy a bonfire with friends, be creative!)
  • Day 3 – Sep 24, The Feast of Gildor – requirements are white bread, apples, cold mead or white wine, berries and fruit. After dark, if it isn’t cloudy, we appreciate stars: the Pleiades (Remmirath), Betelgeuse (Borgil), and Orion (Menelvagor).
  • Day 4 – Sep 25, Farmer Maggot’s Feast – requirements are beer, mushrooms, and bacon, but we often round out the meal with, say, root vegetables, cheese, or seedcake. It is also the evening on which the conspiracy is unmasked and the hobbits bathe and sing in the house at Crickhollow. An appropriate evening activity for the Feast of Farmer Maggot could be to have a nice hot bath and sing one of Bilbo’s favorite bath songs.
  • Day 5 – Sep 26, Feast of Tom Bombadil – requirements are “yellow cream, and honeycomb, and white bread, and butter; milk, cheese, and green herbs and ripe berries gathered”
  • Day 6 – Sep 27, Feast of Tom Bombadil Night 2 – Second night with Bombadil. Tolkien didn’t mention the meal for this night, so we use the same requirements as the previous night, but in a completely different meal. Be inventive!
  • Day 7 – Sep 28, Prisoners of the Barrow-wight – This is the day when the hobbits become lost on the barrow downs and spend the night in a cave, captives of a barrow-wight. Time to get wildly creative. Why not try the “worms in dirt” recipe?
  • Day 8 – Sep 29, The Prancing Pony – requirements are “hot soup, cold meats, a blackberry tart, new loaves, slabs of butter, and half a ripe cheese; good plain food, as good as the Shire could show.”

Our 2014 Feast Week recipes:

Our 2013 Feast Week recipes: