Wafer of Lembas

[aldesign]

The most famous food from LOTR, as its elf quality helps Sam and Frodo through thick and thin.

How-ever.... ive just noticed that while reading ive never really had a picture of it, in my head.

Does anybody have an illustraition of it, or picture from the films?

If not, what do u guys think it looks like??

andy

[Earniel]

Personally I hope it looks at tastes like rice cookies. I loooove those. I don't think Tolkien went into great detail describing lembas. Or (just to be on the safe side)at least he didn't to that in any of his books that I have read so far.

[coolismo]

sort of big oatcakes all standing in a tightly packed line wrapped in leaves?

[emplynx]

I thought of a thin, tannish, wafer wrapped in big green leaves.

[Nariel Starfire]

I always thought it looked like those little wafer thingies of rice paper. You know what I mean?> Kind of off-white, really thin and flat, ...

[KGamgee]

Its weird, I never thought about it until now....but I picture it as the wafers you receive at church. I know thats weird...but thats how I pictured it :)
~KGamgee~

[Bregalad]

I always pictured them as round, flatish, honey-colored, seed cakes. Almost oatmeal cookie-like.

[Rána Eressëa]

Twinkies!!!

[Menelvagor]

I see them kind of like Bregalad's, a lot like oatmeal cookies, only paler in color.

[Evenstar]

Originally posted by Nariel Starshine
I always thought it looked like those little wafer thingies of rice paper. You know what I mean?> Kind of off-white, really thin and flat, ...

I agree!!! That is how I always pictured the Lembas!!! Mmmm papery!!!

[Starr Polish]

I pictured them as a sort of almost pie crust 'sandwich', with the center being kind of creamy. They were round and about as big as a human palm. Well, in my mind, anyway.

[Aragorn]

I pictured them as big round yellow cookies. :D Seriously. You won't find out in the movies though. They cut out the lembas. I found it on a reliable Two Towers spoiler page.

[Arathorn]

I used to picture them as thickened church communion host bread.

But lately I've been thinking more of granollas which I have for lunch in the office.

[Nibs]

I always thought of it like flaky pita bread... says here it was "in the form of very thin cakes, made of a meal that was baked a light brown on the outside, and inside was the color of cream." Doesn't go into consistency, but I assume the outer part at least has to be fairly rigid, considering it can be broken.

Also, I think the leaf wrappings mentioned are just as important to what we call lembas as the contents itself. To me, that's what makes it lembas.

They found me. I don't know how, but they found me.

[Radagast]

I always thought of it as a kind of thin, papery, pale red wafters wrapped in a large leaf.

[aldesign]

yeah ive ha a couple of thogut recently

1. Rice cakes, just round flat, like rice crispys, in a disc, TASTELESS!

2. Jakobs crakers, that we would have with cheese.




But we know for certain that they came in big leaves. Aragorn, i cant beleive they left them out of the movies!!!!!!!!!!!!!
BTW dont give me the link to that page, but i am very upset about them being left out, (if its true)


this post has a good load of replys'
cheers
andy

[Strange-Looking Lurker]

While we're on the subject, what do you picture cram as looking like?

[Arathorn]

Ummm...A sweaty nervous student who doesn't know which exam to study for first. j/k:D

[Earniel]

Oh man, I'm getting hungry...gonna find me something to eat

[Nibs]

Yeah, huh! I don't have my book with me, Aldesign, but one of the elves explicitly says to keep them in their leaf wrappings so they can last a while. Not to tear you down or anything ;).

I should just say that's my opinion, because... well, it is. Leaves and lembas go hand-in-hand in my little world, but not necessarily in yours.

Oh, and on cram, since Gimli mistook lembas for cram at first, I'd say they look similar... more tough, kind of like hardtack.

I'm off to the drugstore to whistle at girls.

[Darius O'Herran]

Well, from what I know of Tolkien, and of his background, I would assume they were a lot like the wafers you would get in church. You see, there is a reasoning behind this. Tolkien was a devout roman catholic. I know that when you read Tolkien there is no mention of god or any gods whatsoever in the "trilogy" Tolkien didn't originally write the works as religious symbolism, he did in the revisions make a concious effort to do so. Also, Lembas is called Waybread, which is the bread given to one on their deathbed for your last communion in catholicism. It can almost be compared, the waybread of catholicism is supposed to help you along your journey to heaven. The waybread in Tolkien was also to help upon the most important journey of Frodo's life. It was, in its own way, a sustainer of his life. The Lembas can look however you want it to in your mind, but that is my reasoning as to why I believe in Tolkien's mind, it was probably a lot like a big piece of communion bread.

Darius O'Herran

[Nibs]

Hey, who mentioned the meaning of lembas?? Make your own thread.

Just kidding. Welcome to the 'moot, Darius. Wipe your feet before entering :) .

[Kirinki54]

"In Quenya it was most often named coimas which is 'life-bread'." Of Lembas, PoME.

The essay also says lembas was made "for the comfort of those who had need to go upon a long journey in the wild, or of the hurt whose life was in peril".

[aldesign]

Nibs Quote:
Yeah, huh! I don't have my book with me, Aldesign, but one of the elves explicitly says to keep them in their leaf wrappings so they can last a while. Not to tear you down or anything .
End Quote

Huh?
i never said they didnt come in leaves.




Cram, no idea

[Nibs]

Wow, wow... you're right and I'm sorry... I imagined there was a "don't" inserted into your sentence... mea culpa.

It's a good thing I didn't make it a scathing diatribe... I'd have been char-broiled by now.

I'm sorry... I was beaten with nunchukas as a child...

[Eruviel Greenleaf]

http://www.elfenomeno.com/peliculas/multimedia/verimag.php?id=997
This is a picture of Lembas from the film. But if they cut it, what will Sam and Frodo, Merry and Pippin, and the Three Hunters (Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli) eat in the next movies?

[Evenstar]

I know!!! Them leaving out Lembas is like them leaving out the gifts!!! If it weren't for Lembas...I'm sure that someone would have passed out before the end...but that's just me!!!

[Eruviel Greenleaf]

I guess since they left out the gifts, there will be no mallorn tree in the Shire. Grrr. They'll all starve to death in the next movie! Silly Peter Jackson. Oh well.
BTW, I always imagined Lembas to be sort of light yellowy-corn flour-coloured wafers about 1/4 inch thick, slightly crumbly, and round. A lot like flat cakes of cornbread.

[aldesign]

cool picture, but still dont get to see the actual Lembas, just the fecking leaves! :)

cheers for that pic, nice find anyway.


Nibs, ur excused ;) and no, i wouldnt roast u, i know how that feels. ;)


and i will personaly Shoot Jackson if he leaves out Lembas

andy

[mirrille]

Interesting. I never thought of lembas as cookies or oatmeal.
I thought of it as fairly thin cream coloured crispy wafers. They're supposed to be sweet right? So I thought of something like a lightly sweet dessert biscuit. The consistency would be much more fine than oatmeal, which is lumpy and more what I think cram would be like. I imagined the leaves would be sort of long like bamboo leaves and dried (therefore dark coloured).

[Rána Eressëa]

I shall stick to my twinkie theory :D

[Eruviel Greenleaf]

You could always try visiting the Middle-earth recipes thread and make some Lembas of your own. Not that it is remotely what lembas should be like, methinks, but it is good!

[Earenya]

I agree with most of you- thinish, wafery cookie-crackers, with some sort of texture, similar to a grain based cake.

Of course, with whatever appearance, what would it taste like??

[Renille]

There are several recipies for lembas in the Middle Earth thread, "Middle Earth Recipies" or something like that. I have yet to try them...I might, I'm not sure...

[Treebeard's apprentice]

I always figured they were sort of like squarish sugar cookies, but with less flavor (As far as I can tell, Middle Earth didn't really have anything like sugar). Flavor is unimportant, though. The main thing is that they supply plenty of nutrition, especially for a pair of Halflings on an Adventure.

[Elf Girl]

My lembas is a little like miniature loaves of bread wrapped in leaves. When unwrapped, they have sort of good-tasting flower dust on them, under that, they're brown, and inside, they're white. Oooooh they tase good.

[Khadrane]

I only hope it doesn't taste like my feeble attempt to make some.

[Eruviel Greenleaf]

Khadrane, try Tanoliel's latest (I think it's her latest) recipe for lembas on the Middle-earth recipes in the Middle-earth forum. Although I don't think it's quite Lembas, they ARE really good!!!!! :)

[Khadrane]

Okay. Thanks! I think I will! (It can't taste worse than mine...)

[Eruviel Greenleaf]

Oh good :)
People should try and make it. The way I talk, Tano ought to hire me to advertise for her. . .I keep telling people to make it!

[Ërendil]

I have seen a picture of Lembas - they are creamy yellow wafer things wrapped in a yellow leaf. They are quite big as well.

[Elfmaster XK]

Well, the other day i realisd that there was such a thing as edible paper, now being a curious person i bought some and i imagin lembas to be like that. It was wafer-thin and slighlty yellowish. However, it was not that nice so i presume lembas would be nicer because elves made iut.

[Eruviel Greenleaf]

I generally assume anything the elves make is nice :)

[Khadrane]

Lembas kinda reminds me of manna from the Bible. Just read the description of manna. I'd write it here but I'm too lazy to get my Bible and look it up.

[Eruviel Greenleaf]

Manna. Hmm. That's interesting. I should try to find the description of it. . .

[Khadrane]

I think there's at least a general description of it. I'll try to find it tonight sometime.

[Khadrane]

Exodus 16:31 (I think):)

[Eruviel Greenleaf]

The next problem is if I can actually manage to find a bible in my house to look at. . .oh, I remember where it is. . .good. Because I am very interested to read the description. Thanks for the suggestion, Khadrane!

[Khadrane]

You're welcome. I think the description is something like that it looks like coriander(?) seeds and tastes like wafers made with honey or something like that.

[BeardofPants]

I always though it looked liked those round rice wafers we used to eat as kids....

[Khadrane]

Ewww... those things are NASTY!:)

[Elf Girl]

I like them. But Lembas is waaaaaaaay better than that.

[markedel]

I wish there were kosher for passover lembas. But they'd probably taste bad. :(

[galadriel88]

I think manna is a pretty good description. That's about how I imagined them. I always thought of them wrapped in a cloth though, not a leaf, and kinda lumpy, not so flat. And very soft, never crunchy.

Aragorn, where is that spoiler page you were talking about?

[Eruviel Greenleaf]

Originally posted by markedel
I wish there were kosher for passover lembas. But they'd probably taste bad. :(

I know!! I was just thinking about that. . .I was going to make some lembas, but then I realized Passover starts tomorrow. . .
*Trying to imagine Kosher for Passover lembas. . .:p*

[tolkienfan]

This person claims to have the original recipe for Lembas, written by Tolkien himself! I will definitely be trying it out very soon.

http://www.pabular.com/recipe/79012/lembas-elvish-waybread

[Earniel]

I kinda have my doubts about the origin story, but I'm interested to hear the results.

[Alec]

I kinda have my doubts about the origin story, but I'm interested to hear the results.

Me too