Food&Drink, Topic Summary and Questions

[Joywitch M. Curmudgeon]

No: HPFGUIDX 28123

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., pigwidgeon37 at y... wrote:

> QUESTION 1: Why do neither teachers nor students ever eat: Rice, 
> pasta, fish, salad, fresh fruit (with the exception of 
strawberries)? 

Well, we know that Hogwarts and the wizarding world is a little old-
fashioned, in that they don't seem to be up on all the hip muggle 
fashions.  Healthy eating is definitely a new-fangled trend.  When I 
was young (ok, that was a while ago, but not THAT long ago) I don't 
remember people eating much in the way of fresh fruit and 
vegetables.  There were relatively few places to buy fresh produce, 
compared with how many there are now.  And I don't think my 
grandparents ever ate fresh fruit and vegetables -- everything my 
grandma cooked was some sort of heavy, meaty thing that sat in a pot 
on the stove for hours and hours.  I know some people who still eat 
that way.  So Hogwarts-style eating may not be all that healthy, but 
it sound probable to me. It's a lot better than living on junk food 
and McDonalds, the way millions of people do.


> QUESTION 2: What do you think of the attitude towards the "popular 
> drugs" coffee, nicotine and alcohol JKR confers to us by means of 
her 
> books (cigarettes are never mentioned, alcohol mostly has 
unpleasant 
> consequences and nobody ever drinks coffee in the wizarding world)? 
A 
> clear message for Muggles like us or a sign that wizards are simply 
> different and don't need certain things?

I'm really glad no one smokes cigarettes in the HP books.  I think 
JKR probably made a conscious decision to keep those nasty cancer 
sticks out of her universe.  As for alcohol, it seems to me there is 
plenty of it.  There are a number of scenes where adults are drinking 
alcohol, and even the students are allowed to drink butterbeer.  The 
only unpleasant consequences are for Hagrid, who indulges a little 
too heavily sometimes, but I actually think JKR depicts a fair amount 
of social drinking for books that are told from the point of view of 
a teenager.

> QUESTION 4: Where do you think the Fat Lady got her chocolate 
liquors 
> from? 

I think it's very obvious that Dean Thomas, who we know is good at 
art, drew a picture of a box of chocolate liquors, framed it, and 
tacked it up on the wall outside the Gryffindor Common Room.  Each 
Gryffindor threw in a couple of knuts for supplies; it was the 
students' Christmas present to the Fat Lady.  Once the picture was 
hung on the wall, the Fat Lady could just wander over to the next 
frame and grab them.

--Joywitch