Cram/Lembas

[Haradrim]

Is Cram the same as Lembas and if it isnt which do you prefer.
I have to go with Cram. I dont like none of that fancy elvish stuff. I prefer some nice old cram instead. I think they are different cause Lembas seem smuch more powerful.

[Lefty Scaevola]

The Lembas is is made from special wheat created by Yavana. All the work on it from rainsing the the wheat in holy forest clearings to baking it is do by high class elvish women (I can not remeber if they are supposed to be maidens or not) The dispensing thereof to travielers is the perogative and special favour of the queen. Sound sorta like a Lexus commercial, does it not?

[Haradrim]

coolio
but which do you prefer.
Good Old Cram or that Elvish stuff :)

[Sister Golden Hair]

Is Cram the same as Lembas and if it isnt which do you prefer.
I have to go with Cram. I dont like none of that fancy elvish stuff. I prefer some nice old cram instead. I think they are different cause Lembas seem smuch more powerful.Cram was a tasteless but nutritious small biscuit or cake prepared by the Men of Esgaroth. Lembas was the waybread of the Elves. Also very nutrutious, but unlike Cram, it was tastey.

[Haradrim]

So I am guessing your going for that fancy elvish stuff then

[Sister Golden Hair]

So I am guessing your going for that fancy elvish stuff thenWell of course. The Queen of Nargothrond would only eat what her true love and king would eat when we travel, and that would be Lembas. :)

[Haradrim]

Ah yes maybe for the queen. but for a hardened warrior nothing is better than some good old cram

[elixir]

Ah yes maybe for the queen. but for a hardened warrior nothing is better than some good old cram.
Well, I guess that when you are on the journey and you don't have so much of food supplies then it's better to have cram with you because it's tasteless and then you don't want to eat too much of it, just as much as you have to in order to survive. But if you have that nice tasty Lembas you might be tempted to eat more of it. :p

[Sister Golden Hair]

Well, I guess that when you are on the journey and you don't have so much of food supplies then it's better to have cram with you because it's tasteless and then you don't want to eat too much of it, just as much as you have to in order to survive. But if you have that nice tasty Lembas you might be tempted to eat more of it. :pNah! That would only happen if you were a mortal. Elves had more self control then that. :p :) Besides, didn't Lembas have other properties besides curbing hunger? Didn't it give energy? That beats Cram. :)

[Earniel]

So I am guessing your going for that fancy elvish stuff then
I suppose one would go for the fancy elvish stuff if one would have the opportunity. From what I've read Lembas was quite rare in Middle-earth. (except in most fanfics and RPG's ;) ) If it's usually the privilege of the queen to hand it out, then it isn't your average way-bread. Because just how many Elven queens or ladies of the same esteem are left in Middle-earth? And not to mention just how many travellers came accoss them to restock their packbacks?

So I'm assuming that most travellers, even Elvish ones, went with cram or various varients of it. I'm betting only a very small portion of the Middle-earth travellers ever tasted, or even knew Lembas.

[elixir]

Cram did give energy. All food gives you energy, especially those nutritious ones. ;) But I never meant that I would choose cram - sending me to some stupid dangerous quest with some stupid tasteless cram??? :rolleyes: Nah, I'll better take a lot of that nice tasty Lembas. :) And then eat it all at once and starve... :o

But I think Lembas did give more energy to both body and spirit. Why else would elves give it out so sparingly? Besides, if you are indeed on an uncomfortable journey and all you have to eat is some tasteless stuff, that doesn't cheer you up much, does it? Just takes away the hunger. What's more, Lembas was made by the elves and when you eat it you probably would think of those elves and their peaceful way of life and their encouraging words. :)

[Haradrim]

Ah but your previous argument is valid elixir. If it was really tasty then you would be tempted to eat more than your share. However Cram lasts a very long time. I think I remember that when chewing Cram it doesnt really dissapitate in your mouth. I thought it was kind of like gum and that point. But if its tasteless then you will eat exactly what you need. Meaning that you will have more food for a longer time. Also when Frodo and Sam went to Mordor if they had had Cram then they probably wouldnt have run out of food. Im talkin the books not the movies.:)

[Radagast The Brown]

I don't gthink so; they were taking as little as they could each day. Plus, they tried to eat other things (like the bunnies. :)). They planned how much they eat every day... I checked it, trying to find what the Lembas tastes like. (I thought I remembered that they started to dislike its taste, after eating so much only that food) (but couldn't find it).

What's cram btw? I need to translate it to Hebrew... Can someone describe it?

[Haradrim]

It slike a grey bisuit that you can constantly chew on. It is tasteless but it lasts a long time in your mouth. Read the hobbit part where they take Balins path in the chapter not at home. Oh here is the quote;

"If you want to know what cram is, I can only say I dont know the recipe; but it is biscuitish, keeps good indefinately, is supposed to be sustaining, and is certainly not entertaining, being in fact very unintersting except as chewing exercise. It was made by the Lake-men for long journeys."

[Michael Martinez]

But I think Lembas did give more energy to both body and spirit. Why else would elves give it out so sparingly? Besides, if you are indeed on an uncomfortable journey and all you have to eat is some tasteless stuff, that doesn't cheer you up much, does it? Just takes away the hunger. What's more, Lembas was made by the elves and when you eat it you probably would think of those elves and their peaceful way of life and their encouraging words. :)

Tolkien wrote an essay on lembas which was published in The Peoples of Middle-earth. It was made from a very special corn given to the Eldar by Yavanna. The properties of the lembas were such that it was not suited for mortals to eat it for extended periods of time. Hence, the Eldar rarely bestowed it upon Men (or Dwarves).

[Nurvingiel]

That's interesting Michael, obviously the Fellowship's quest was of dire importance. This new insight about lembas illustrates that further, because for Frodo and Sam (in Mordor), Merry and Pippin (escaping the orcs, and in Fangorn) and the Three Hunters, that's practically all they ate for a while.
Cram was a tasteless but nutritious small biscuit or cake prepared by the Men of Esgaroth. Lembas was the waybread of the Elves. Also very nutrutious, but unlike Cram, it was tastey.
You can still get tired of it though, Frodo and Sam were sick of it by the time they reached Mordor! :D

[Telcontar_Dunedain]

Gimli certainly enjoyed it. He ate one as son as he got it and was about to start another before he was stopped by the elves.

[Nurvingiel]

That was the first peice he ever ate though. Didn't he say he was tired of it later, when he, Legolas, and Aragorn practically lived off it when they crossed the plains of Rohan?

I'm not saying Lembas is gross, I just mean that you can get tired of even the most delicious food if you eat too much of it.

[inked]

Nobody's mentioned that Lembas functions as the Eucharist - certainly a key feature in JRRT's life. It is wafer-like, imparts spiritual and bodily energy, and is best subsisted on alone, not mixed with other foodstuffs.

Cram is therefore analogous to plain bread - sustaining, energizing, but bereft of the spiritual component.

Then you get into the whole symbolism thing from the simplest needs of human (and the spiritual) - "Eat this. Drink this." :cool:

[Count Comfect]

Well, Gimli claimed to prefer lembas to cram, I believe. And he'd have more experience ;) Plus, lembas is supposedly VERY filling, so it isn't like you could scarf it down. Unless you're a hobbit...
Gotta go lembas, but cram is easier to get

[Attalus]

Lembas for me, if I can get Galadriel to give me some of it. I think JRRT had to invent something like lembas, sending Frodo and Sam on a long quest though dangerous, foodless lands.

[Lefty Scaevola]

Tolkien wrote an essay on lembas which was published in The Peoples of Middle-earth. It was made from a very special corn given to the Eldar by Yavanna. Not to metinon the part about it being grown in sacred clearings by high elven women of excelent charactor and then then prepared by the same.