Dietary Needs at Hogwarts.

[absinthe at mad.scientist.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 12684

 "Sister Mary Lunatic" <klaatu at p...> wrote:
> There is excessive attention paid to food descriptions in the Harry 
Potter
> books.  I've always figured it was because, at the time JKR was 
beginning to
> plot and write the HP books, she was a "welfare mom" and probably 
struggling
> to feed herself and her daughter.  When you're hungry, you think 
obsessively
> about food, you SEE food everywhere... in shop windows, in print, on
> television... When I'm "dieting" and go to bed a bit hungry, I have 
what I
> call "grocery store dreams", in which I push my cart up and down the 
aisles
> of the local grocery, filling it to the brim with cookies, snacks, 
candy,
> and other munchies.  Fortunately, I always wake up before I have to 
pay for
> it all...
> 

The Redwall Series by Brian Jacques has more food descriptions than 
HP. Jacques devotes paragraphs to the foods at the various feasts. lol 
The books are certainly not the thing to read while dieting.

> Speaking of food at Hogwarts, in PS/SS Chapter 10 (Halloween), at 
the
> evening's dinner (before the troll was discovered) it says "The 
feast
> appeared suddenly on the golden plates, as it had at the 
start-of-term
> banquet."  Which implies that the food does not appear suddenly the 
rest of
> the time.  I wonder if the day-to-day meals have the food arriving 
in more
> traditional ways, like a regular school cafeteria where you take 
your tray
> and pile up the food from a special table or counter, then go sit 
down.
> Before I noticed this sentence, I had assumed that it appeared 
magically at
> each table 3 times a day, and the kids helped themselves while 
seated.
> 

I also think there are a variety of foods during the meals, but we 
only see Harry eating the foods he likes best. I had a friend in 
college who would only eat raw broccoli and ranch dressing from the 
salad bar and never any other type of vegetable and I always ate a 
scoop of ice cream on a cone for dessert. I'm sure that the House 
Elves take good care of the dietary needs of the students. What does 
seem to be missing is 'junk food'. We really don't see Harry snacking 
on potatoes chips, pretzels, tortilla chips with salsa, etc. OTOH, I 
don't think we've seen Harry munching on fresh fruit either.

:-)Milz