Mushrooms and Diets
Hobbits have a great fondness for mushrooms. Not just for food, but also for smoking and drinking them steeped into tea.
Great for relaxation, his father always said, and one of the remedies for anxiety or temper is for a special mushroom tea. The mild hallucinations meant it was working.
After Rivendale, Bofur noticed Bilbo had suddenly become much more relaxed and complacent, not caring about things that would have otherwise thrown him into a huff. He simply sat on his pony, smoking his odd-smelling pipe, gazing off into the distance and sounding quite airy and flat when he spoke.
Bofur was alarmed, thinking it a malady of the spirit, but when questioned, Bilbo assured him that he's simply found some good herbs outside of Rivendale. Good herbs and good mushrooms, with good feelings attached to them.
No cause for alarm at all.
He was a bit annoyed when Bilbo politely declined his request to try some, but forgot about the incident soon enough.
The next time they stopped for food, no one really noticed what Bilbo had been adding to his own food, until Fili gave an upset shout and lunged for his half-empty bow in an attempt to bat it out of BIlbo's hand. The Hobbit yelped and pulled his food out of the dwarf's reach.
"What in the world are you doing?!" He cried, with one of the added mushrooms still on his fork.
"You added those to your own food?" The blonde demanded, hands on his hips.
"Yes..." He agreed, rather confused. "Is this a cultural thing? I didn't know any rules of mushroom consumption were practiced."
Upon looking closer, they were all horrified. The bright yellow caps were notorious for being extremely poisonous to dwarves.
"Those are deathcaps." Oin said quietly, giving him a hard stare. Bilbo frowned at him, squinting at the dwarf before replying.
"I am aware of what Men call them." He popped it into his mouth, sighing at the startled and horrified noises around him.
"I am a Hobbit, not a Dwarf. I apologize if I've offended you or some such thing, but I haven't had a proper mushroom dish in ages, and if your people have some strange taboo against mushrooms, I'll thank you to allow for a difference in cultural opinion."
Fili waved his arms about.
"Deathcap is poisonous! Deadly!"
Kili simply sat in shocked silence.
"Don't be silly, I know all the mushrooms in my food, and not one could bring me to harm in this quantity. "
They stared at him like he was going to keel over or spontaneously combust.
After some explanations and a sadly cold bowl of stew, They learn that hobbits have very different ideas on what constitutes edible.
Nightshade, mushrooms, milkweed and goldberries were all quite nice, if prepared properly.
Those same plants were considered death to other races.
Everyone resolved to leave the Hobbit to his own food, and to never try and steal from his plate.