Six Meals a Day
Breakfast
Morning calls too urgently to wait for breakfast. It is better to shove
crumpets and muffins into pockets and sausage into your mouth and bolt out of
the smial and across the fields with Pippin at your
heels. Breakfast is better in the air of the new day, augmented by berries you
pick on the path. They stain your fingers and Pippin's face and you think their
sweet taste must be the flavor of summer itself. The grass is damp with
dew and the muffin crumbs onto your shirt and all the world was made just for
you, just for this day.
Second Breakfast
Second breakfast is good for listening to adults, and sitting across from your
mum and watching her face as she talks to Aunt Hilda. It is good for eggs and
bacon and toast and watered-down tea that makes you
feel grown-up. It is unhurried and warm and heartening after the bustle and
buzz of breaking the day has worn off. You mind your manners and sit up
straight and ignore Berilac when he nudges your leg
under the table with his foot. Your mum smiles at you in approval, and then
winks in conspiracy as she slips you the last sticky bun.
Elevenses
For some bemusing reason, elevenses are Pippin's
favorite meal. You think perhaps he just likes the word. Or maybe because elevenses most often are taken in the kitchen, and
sometimes standing up. There is no need for plates or silverware when one can
nab a little of this and a dab of that, tucking it quickly into your cheek
before dropping the next culinary treat into your pocket. Elevenses
are quick and varied and casual and you are back to the business of the day in
no time. Pippin licks his fingers and smiles up at you and says, "What shall we
do now, Merry?"
Luncheon
The masses of lads and lasses who reside at Brandy Hall take luncheon in the
Children's Hall, running alongside the main kitchen and out of hearing range of
the adults in the dining hall. This is just as well, as it is a riotous affair
that commonly involves overturned plates, spilt drinks, a weeping child or two,
and sometimes a tussle. There is a great deal of commerce, ribbons traded for
glass beads and slingshots for tops and biscuits for tarts. Luncheon is less
about food and more about secrets and pacts and afternoon plans, and that suits
everyone just fine.
Tea
The finest tea is served at Bag End. The tea and pastries themselves are of no
higher quality than those served at Brandy Hall, but the event is so splendidly
special that it has its own flavor. You eat at the kitchen table and Cousin
Bilbo pours from the kettle himself. You are allowed to sit right beside him,
across from Frodo, who is in charge of supervising Pippin, and while you eat he
speaks to you just as he would a grown-up. He listens seriously to everything
you say and when you look across the table Frodo is smiling at you while Pippin
sticks his fingers into the jam.
Supper
Sometimes, the future Master takes supper in the dining hall, but more often,
he takes it in his apartments with his wife and son. This is the best way to
have supper, just the three of you about the small round table in front of the
fire. Da's voice is low and rumbling and Mum's is
warm and murmuring and it doesn't matter, really, what is said when it is
enough just to hear them. You do not know, yet, that there is anything grander
in the world than this, and you have not learned, yet, that this is in fact the
best thing of all.
Midnight snack
It is Frodo who has taught you that sweets taste best when they are burgled,
and then eaten together in some secret place, heads close together, giggles
stifled and manners abandoned. You are careful not to wake Pippin when Frodo
gently shakes your shoulder, and the two of you sneak silently to the kitchens
as only young hobbits bent on mischief can sneak. You think it is the splendor
of Ruby's cake that makes these excursions such a delight, but someday you will
know that this sweet joy is the taste of friendship.