What actually is Lembas?

This is a revised and updated version of a video first published in June 2022.

I interpreted it as Tolkein just thinking to himself- "What if travel rations, but you WANT to eat them."

Gotta say, as a history nerd, I’ve always assumed that lembas was drawn from Tolkiens military service. It’s one of those tiny details that cements the world as being utterly fantastic. Anyone who’d served in the military, which after both world wars was a lot of people, would have seen “rations that taste good” as just as wondrous and magical elves and magic rings.

When he said "hardtack" I couldn't help but think of Max from Tasting History and laughed. Clack clack lol

"Waybread" is almost a direct translation of the Latin "Viaticum", which is Communion given to the dying as part of the Last Rites.

Remember: pre-industrial societies used grain two ways—to bake and to ferment. And from fermentation comes distillation. So logically, lembas beer and lembas whiskey must both be possible!

Traditionally, corn meant any kind of grain. We see this today in "corned beef" meaning that the salt used to preserve it is as large as grain. The grain we now call corn is really called maize and Tolkien almost certainly did not envision lembas being made from maize. Actually, Tolkien specifically says that it is made of wheat.

I love the idea that Lembas wasn't satisfying like normal food. It was fully sustaining, and pleasant to partake of, but was still a tool for those with need and if it had been commonly eaten, it would not have been as fulfilling as a hearty meal. I wonder if even Legolas had eaten it before receiving it from Galadriel. He obviously knew what it was and its significance, but he was probably fairly young for an elf and as far as I'm aware, he hadn't ventured far beyond Mirkwood before joining the Fellowship, so he may not have ever been given some before.

A note about the term 'corn'. In the context of the LoTR and European history/myth it doesn't mean the corn/maize that was shown in the painting. Corn referred to anything that had kernels of a certain size, hence barleycorn, and it was not limited to plant grains, corned beef is called that because of the grain size of the salt used. 'Corn' in the context of European history and by extension LoTR is not a reference to any specific type of grain.plant, it's a reference to the kernel size. As an aside, I've always imagined Lembas as a sort of magic shortbread, mainly because shortbread is deliciosus and the color and slightly crumbly aspect of Lembas always made me think of it.

LEMBAS was made by the Elves for their Moon landing program, it stands for Lunar Excursion Module Basic Alimentary Supply.

I've always imagined Lembas as an ultra high calorie shortbread with added umph from Valinor. 😊❤😊

Would love to see a companion piece to this, if you haven't already done it, about orc draught and ent draught.

you should record fantasy audio books. you voice is just perfectly soothing to just float away while listening and start hallucinating the stuff

Now I'm hungry. Time for second breakfast!

At 2:57, a photo of matzah (unleavened bread) and a cup of wine from a Pesach seder (Passover meal).

Pretty sure based on what I am hearing here that Lembas is Cool Ranch Doritos.

I always imagined that Lembas' great taste would only make it way too tempting to eat and therefore be poorly suited for the task of being an actual travel ration.

I made some lembas for my friend going through alcoholic recovery. I tested it and it was tasty- you use cinnamon and it tastes warm and buttery.

This also is reminiscent of when David received bread of the presence of God from the priests of the temple when fleeing from Saul.

Lembas is really just Walker's pure butter shortbread... one of the rare foods that contain vastly more calories than the object actually weighs. A mere 300g pack to the lips equals at least a kilo gained to the hips.