Imagine banqueting in Hogwarts’ Great Hall, indulging in a
feast of pumpkin pasties, chocolate frogs and liquorice wands then washing it
all down with an ice cold mug of refreshing butterbeer. The world of Harry
Potter is rife with mouth-watering culinary oddities that can delight, or in
the case of Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Jelly Beans, occasionally disgust.
Happily, there was news last week that the world of Harry
Potter is on its way back to the big screen. JK Rowling is set to pen an original
screenplay adaptation of her book ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them’.
Released in 2001 to raise money for Comic Relief, the book is a fictional guide
written by daring magizoologist, Newt Scamander about the colourful creatures
of Harry’s wizarding world.
The film, or potential series of films, is likely to feature
more weird and wonderful foods, which play an important part in bringing this
vivid and vibrant world to life. However, Rowling’s world is not the only place
where fictional foods play an important part in the story, and here are a few
of what we think are the most noteworthy.
Lembas
Lembas (or waybread for those who don’t speak elven) is a meal
with each mouthful. The occasional saviour of Samwise and Frodo on their long
journey to Mordor, this hearty bread is presented to the heroic hobbits by enchanting
elven lady, Galadriel. They say that one small mouthful is enough to fill a
fully grown man, but that’s not enough to fill some hobbits. For instance, in
the film series, upon Merry asking him how much he has eaten, partner in crime,
Pippen happily turns to him and belches ‘four!’
Lopadotemachoselachogaleokranioleipsanodrimhypotrimmatosilphioparaomelitokatakechymenokichlepikossyphophattoperisteralektryonoptekephalliokigklopeleiolagoiosiraiobaphetraganopterygon
Don’t worry, I haven’t fallen asleep at my keyboard. For
many centuries this fictional food was the longest word ever to appear in
literature. The loose translation is a dish compounded of all kinds of
dainties, fish, flesh, fowl, and sauces and appears in Ancient Greek playwright,
Aristophanes’ comic play Assemblywomen.
Scooby snacks
The transformative power of one of tasty treats means that
an occasionally cowardly Scooby Doo is often the hero of the day.
Soap
In David Mitchell’s delightfully ambitious, sprawling novel
Cloud Atlas, geography, genre and time are all heavily toyed with. The story spans
6 interwoven parts with the events and moralities of each echoing throughout
the others. One of the most affecting parts is the dystopian story of
Sonmi-451, a genetically engineered work-clone or ‘fabricant’. Here the
fabricants feast on ‘Soap’, and it’s only later in the story that we find out the
chilling revelation that the ‘Soap’ is actually recycled from the fabricants
themselves…
Melange
Okay, this isn’t a fictional food per se, but rather the fictional
drug central to the Dune series. Nicknamed ‘the spice’ by inhabitants of this
world, Melange is a potent geriatric drug that gives the user a longer life
span, greater vitality, and heightened awareness. Given its nickname for its
powder-like consistency and likeness to substances like cinnamon, Spice can
only be found on the arid and dangerous desert plants Arrakis.
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