#i gotta hide it from my sister though because she goes through soap so fast it's unbelievable. a single bar gone in like just over a week

[bookwyrminspiration]

June here, bringing forth a debate: You've called elves fruitarians, but that's not very true. They eat Brattails (tubers), Carnissa Root, and Umber Leaves. Starkflower Stew is said to have vegetables mixed in it. Nuts and seeds are consumed (Ripplenuts and Cravettels). And there's a mushroom soup in Exile. They're not vegans either, because of the cream and bread and pastries they eat, though that could be made with plant based alternatives too. Which now makes me wonder if they have farms...

OO a debate okay okay let me defend my position, hang on.

(got a little long so my defense is under the cut <3)

So my original claim (in this post) is that elves are best categorized as fruitarians because "they exist almost entirely off of a fruitarian diet" (quote: me).

In order to be more clear, let's define what a fruitarian diet consists of! In a typical fruitarian diet, at least half of your calories come from fruit, and "usually, the other 25% to 50% of calories come from nuts, seeds, vegetables, and whole grains" (I'm using this source). Some people will go to more extremes, but there are still some nuts and such because you literally can't get all the essential nutrients, vitamins, minerals, etc. from just fruit.

As such, a fruitarian diet isn't characterized by an exclusively fruit diet, but rather one dominated by fruit, which I think the elves fit! You're right, they do eat tubers and leaves and roots and nuts, however almost all of those foods are mentioned only once or twice throughout the entire 8.5 book series. Compared to the frequency in which fruit is mentioned, I think it's safe to safe it would fit the 50-25% frequency in the fruitarian diet.

Additional note: while it's true elves can and have eaten starkflower stew, I don't consider it reflective of their eating habits or tendencies as it is a gnomish dish that has instead been shared with the elves. I acknowledge this is a personal classification that has been given to it and can be dismissed. However, vegetables in moderation are allowed in a fruitarian diet either way.

I will concede to you that it is difficult to justify their dessert consumption aside from the use of whole grains, which are allowed in moderation. The assumption is that at least some are made using dairy products and solid fats similar to human dishes, as that's what we think of when we think of desserts. These don't fit into either vegan or fruitarian diets.

However, we have seen no evidence of dairy products/production or similar aside from these desserts, so I propose that these may not actually be dairy products at all. As we've seen with foods you've mentioned like Umber Leaves, the elves have plants that replicate the taste of other foods like chicken, so is it unreasonable to think they could have such a plant-based product to substitute for ingredients like milk and butter in their baked goods? They can use nuts like almonds to make almond milk and use other substitutes that could appear to be dairy, but aren't actually

It's true that the recipes Shannon has provided include dairy products, however those are attempts at making elven foods with what humans have access too. For example, lushberry juice doesn't have lushberries in it as humans don't have any. As such, we can't take the recipes as indicative of any dairy products in elven recipes.

I argue that the existence of baked goods can't be used as definitive proof of food items outside of the fruitarian diet within elven culture as it's clear they have access to plant food outside of our understanding. We cannot identify what is used in these baked goods so they can't be used to support either side of the debate, unless and until their contents are confirmed.

Your honor, the elves diet is best defined as a fruitarian diet as it consists primarily of fruits along with moderate consumption of nuts, seeds, and various vegetables fitting well within the 25-50% boundaries based on the frequency they're mentioned throughout the day. Their desserts cannot be classified either way as we have no clear knowledge of what they actually contain.

As such, my position is that fruitarian is the dietary label most suited to the elves behavior

Okay how did I do? You said we were debating so I tried to follow what I remembered from the few debates I've been in/witnessed over the years. Of course you're welcome to disagree!! And I was using argue in the purely debate context, not that this is an actual serious argument or anything.

But that was still very fun so thanks!! As for the farms...there's never been a mention of farms but gardens have been mentioned a few times, always in conjunction with the gnomes. So I'm pretty sure food production comes down almost entirely to them (further supported by how the food production fell apart in Neverseen when the gnomes left the lost cities)