#culinary arts

[erulasse23]

comfort food

[the fellowship, fluff, 763 words]

written for @tolkienekphrasisweek day 5: culinary arts

“Do you know what I want? One of Bilbo’s honey cakes.” Pippin announced this aloud to the eight other tired, cold, hungry members of the Fellowship, who were just coming out of the harrowing snowstorm on the slopes of Caradhras.

“Don’t have none of those,” Sam said apologetically. “I’ve got a few potatoes I can cook if we can get a fire going. There should be some bread and cheese too.”

“Oh Pip, why’d you have to mention honey cakes? That’s all I can think about now!” Merry said. “We were always jealous of you Frodo, you must’ve had honey cakes every day, living with Bilbo.”

Frodo gave a small smile. “Honestly, I don’t think Bilbo cared much for them.” There were gasps of astonishment from the other three hobbits. The honey cakes were famous across the South Farthing. “It was always more about the ritual, with Bilbo. No matter what I was doing, he called me in for teatime. He would put a whole spread together, brew a pot, get out the nice teacups. He liked having someone to take care of.”

“He did the same at Rivendell,” Aragorn said. “Elves don’t have afternoon tea, not like hobbits. But he would always find someone to sit with him a while.”

“That sounds like old Bilbo,” said Pippin. “What about you, Boromir? What do you miss from your home?”

“Well… right now I would love a hot stew with harissa,” he said. “Warm me up a bit. It’s been years since I’ve had any.”

Merry and Pippin exchanged glances. “What’s harissa?” Merry asked.

“It’s a sort of sauce,” Boromir said in surprise. “It’s meant to be mixed in with other foods to add flavor and spice.”

“The Shire doesn’t have much trade with any peoples east of Gondor,” said Aragorn.

“Ahhhh. Well neither have we in recent years, that’s why it’s been so long since I’ve had any. We import it from Harad.”

“But when you say spice,” said Pippin, “you mean like peppercorns? Ginger?”

“I don’t know everything that’s in it,” said Boromir slowly. “It burns, somewhat similar to ginger, but it has peppers and chiles and a smokier flavor. It makes your mouth warm, your throat warm, even your stomach. When I was young, my friends and I used to challenge each other to eat it by the spoonful.” He laughed suddenly. “We’d see who could take it without turning red or getting teary-eyed.” Merry looked at Pippin, grin spreading across his face.

“Oh no, look what you’ve started now, laddie!” Gimli shook his head at the young hobbits, who had already started bickering again. “Me, I await the halls of Khazad-Dûm. They’ll have salted pork and beer at the least, maybe more if we’re lucky. Beer! How long has it been since I’ve had a pint? Elves and their fancy wines are no match for a good ale!” Boromir nodded in agreement, while Legolas quietly wandered away from the small fire that Sam was building.

Some time later, he returned with a sack full of berries and wild onions. The hobbits set upon the supply immediately. Legolas raised an eyebrow at Gimli, who huffed. “No meat?”

“You are welcome to go looking, if you wish,” replied Legolas. “It appears that animals have deserted this place, but I cannot tell why.”

“We will see what we find in Moria,” said Gandalf.

“Gandalf, what do wizards eat?” Merry smacked the back of Pippin’s head as Gandalf raised his eyes skyward, mumbling to himself about Tooks and foolish questions. “What, it was an honest question!”

“We eat hobbits, of course,” the wizard said. “What do you think?”

Pippin’s eyes widened and the rest of the Fellowship laughed at his expression.

Gandalf sighed. “I eat what I am given, for the most part. I have traveled far in my time and tried a great many things. Although I am partial to the offerings of the Shire.”

“If there’s one thing we know in the Shire, it’s how to cook up a proper meal,” said Sam with pride. “Not like this campfire cookin’ we’ve had. After all this is over, you’ll have to come pay us a visit in Hobbiton and I’ll get you a real taste of hobbit-fare. A nice roast, maybe, with carrots and mushrooms, and bread with herbs and butter, and a fresh garden salad, and, and spice cake!”

“It sounds wonderful, Sam,” said Boromir. “We would be honored.”

Sam blushed. “Well, we’ve a ways to go yet. I suppose there’s no use planning that far ahead. One day at a time.”

[rowenas-my-fave-child]

Cake I made for my 14th birthday party

[tilbageidanmark]

Sandwiches on newspapers, by Ukrainian artist Julia Stankevych.

[ima-jortsman]

sister and I made “Venomous pancakes and Boxman eggs” as a late contribution to Voxman Week. Sorry Tumblr

[dylandoesart]

Senshi heard you were feeling under the weather and has just the thing for you

[gentlemensarts]

[thedarkmongoose]

[fantasyfoodpalace]

Today's meal is a hearty plate of spaghetti with melted mozzarella and chicken meatballs, paired with a refreshing glass of grape juice

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Follow @fantasyfoodpalace

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[alysculinarychaos]

[chrnerland]

It's Christmas again and that means gingerbread house time! And this year I asked friends for suggestions and the winner was Shakespeare's the Globe Theatre London!

Ngl, pretty fucking chuffed about it! ❤️ the decorations are inspired by patterns from costumes from recent plays like Antony and Cleopatra, Much Ado About Nothing and Princess Essex. Here are some close ups of the details.

Merry Christmas to whoever sees this! 🎄

[shitacademicswrite]

[frnkieroismydaddy]

Everyone look at my Supernatural pie

[gwyndisabilityblog]

Hi

Looking for other autistic people with a gastronomy/culinary arts special interest. Would love to find other likeminded people, or to hear how autism has impacted your relationship with the culinary arts. Reblog or comment with how your autism connects with the culinary arts and what your favorite foods are. :)

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For me I'm lucky to for the most part be a sensory seeking autistic person, which means the culinary arts world and international dining are far more accessible to me than lots of other autistic people. I think autism has actually enhanced my ability to appreciate food as a form of art, and allowed me to understand the nuances of various flavors and cooking techniques to a greater degree.

For the most part I can eat a lot of foods and have a more unusual palate, but for me a lot of the food I gravitate to is highly spicy because by adding spices and seasonings to a dish I'm able to tolerate more textures because the seasoning overrides textures I otherwise wouldn't like. Bland food however is more of a gamble for me because in the absence of taste, texture is more prominent.

This is rather broad, but I'd say my favorite cuisines to study, cook, and eat are anything in the Levant, Southeast Asia, Southern Europe, India, and Afghanistan. The spicier the more friendly for my autism. Some of my favorite dishes are Nigeria style jollof rice, Sichuan hot pot, paneer makhani from India, and Turkish karniyarak.

I do enjoy some more subtle flavors like French dauphinois and plain filet mignon or Jewish lox bagels. With a dessert for instance I'm more inclined to prefer subtlety because anything too sweet is overwhelming for me. I don't like saccharine. A little sugar goes a long way for me, but garlic and spice I can have in abundance.

Also the one food snob thing I can't get into is wine (really any alcoholic drinks) or coffees. Maybe my palate isn't as sophisticated yet as I thought, but too much bitterness is repugnant to me. I like bitter undertones, but not punch-you-in-your-face-bitter. I do enjoy tea sampling every now and then, but prefer herbal teas. I know technically hibiscus and rooibos teas aren't "true teas" but I still enjoy em.

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Please if you're an autistic food snob talk to me. I'd love to hear other autistic food snobs' likes and dislikes.

[sayeonlee]

made a chocolate creamux to one up my grandma who says cooking isn’t an art

[spacedoutrocketeer]

The roll.