Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardy

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry is a school for all children in Britain that possess magical abilities. It is a boarding school, but the subjects that are taught here are very different from a Muggle boarding school. The students eat all their meals in the Great Hall, in which there are four long tables for each of the school houses.

Aside from the everyday meals, such as breakfast, lunch and dinner, there are a few important feasts that occur at Hogwarts. These include the start of term feast (on the first night of the school year), Hallowe’en, Christmas, and the end of term feast (on the last night of the school year). The food that is served at these particular feasts is more varied and fancy than the everyday meals, because it is a special occasion.

The first feast that Rowling writes about is the start of term feast in the Philosopher’s Stone.

“Harry’s mouth fell open. The dishes in front of him were now piled with food. He had never seen so many things he liked to eat on one table: roast beef, roast chicken, pork chops, lamb chops, sausages, bacon and steak, boiled potatoes, roast potatoes, chips, Yorkshire puddings, peas, carrots, gravy, ketchup and, for some strange reason, mint humbugs.” (92)

“A moment later the puddings appeared. Blocks of ice-cream in every flavour you could think of, apple pies, treacle tarts, chocolate éclairs and jam doughnuts, trifle, strawberries, jelly, rice pudding…” (93)

There is a wide variety of meat dishes and different types of potatoes, as well as choices of vegetables and sauces. The large number of choices support that this is a welcoming feast for the students and professors. The inclusion of mint humbugs seems to be Dumbledore’s touch as the reader already knows by this point that he has a sweet-tooth and seems to like Muggle sweets. This large selection is also present in the desserts. Rowling does not tell the reader what the ice-cream flavours are; instead, she leaves that for the reader’s imagination. In addition, the second quote ends in an ellipses, which insinuates that there are even more dishes than the ones that are mentioned. Harry’s shock is towards the sudden appearance of the food on the table and the large assortment of dishes that appear. This is one of the first instances of magic that Harry sees, so it is all still new to him. How the food appears on the table is not discussed until the Goblet of Fire, and will be discussed later in this post.

However, Harry’s shock is not at entirely shocking for the reader. The poor treatment he receives at the Dursleys’ makes it clear that he was never over-fed or that he lived a life of luxury or even had the ability to choose for himself. Harry is very very rarely treated with the foods that he likes –

“The Dursleys had never exactly starved Harry, but he’d never been allowed to eat as much as he liked. Dudley had always taken anything that Harry really wanted, even if it made him sick. Harry piled his plate with a bit of everything except the humbugs and began to eat. It was all delicious.” (92)

Dudley had first choice of everything in their home, and food was not an exception. Dudley took things before and away from Harry because he was given special treatment over Harry, and also because Dudley was being spiteful. It was simply because he could do it and get away with it. At this feast, Harry took a bit of everything (excluding the humbugs) because he had never been allowed this much choice before. Rowling tells the reader that he enjoyed it, however she does not mention how the food tasted. She may not do this because she compares Harry’s experience at the Dursleys’ to the freedom he is already experiencing at Hogwarts. Like the Weasleys’ home, Hogwarts is much more appealing and comforting to Harry than the Dursleys’ house.

The dishes that are served at the feasts are very British. There is no breaking away from this theme or culture, until the Goblet of Fire, which is when schools from other countries arrive at Hogwarts. The dishes at each feast are very similar, but obviously there are some dishes that are only eaten at certain celebrations. For example, Christmas pudding is eaten at Christmas and pumpkin is a common smell or flavour at Hallowe’en. As the story continues, Rowling seems to pay less attention to the food as she does not always tell the reader what is being eaten. As a result, she mentions what exactly is being eaten less often, and sometimes there are repetitions in the meals. For example, treacle tart and chocolate gateau are common desserts at the start of term feast. This choice of not always describing the type of food may be because the food is knowingly going to be British, and so many readers may already know what to expect. Another reason may be because what they are eating is just not relevant to the story; it is the location that is significant.

In the Goblet of Fire, the arrival of the other schools means that Hogwarts is accommodating to their guests and their different palate, which is clearly evident at their welcoming feast.

“The dished in front of them filled with food as usual. The house-elves in the kitchen seemed to have pulled out all the stops; there was a greater variety of dishes in front of them than harry had ever seen, including several that were definitely foreign. ‘What’s that?’ said Ron, pointing at a large dish of some sort of shellfish stew that stood beside a large steak-and-kidney pudding. ‘Bouillabaisse,’ said Hermione. ‘Bless you,’ said Ron. ‘It’s French,’ said Hermione. ‘I had it on holiday, summer before last, it’s very nice.’ ‘I’ll talk your word for it,’ said Ron, helping himself to black pudding’” (221)

“When the second course arrived they noticed a number of unfamiliar puddings, too. Ron examined an odd sort of pale blancmange closely, then moved it carefully a few inches to his right, so that it would be clearly visible from the Ravenclaw table” (223)

There are a variety of dishes to suit the natives and visitors. It becomes apparent that these ‘foreign’ dishes are not commonly served at Hogwarts. Ron’s reaction is stubborn. Moreover, it is a reflection of the common reaction when ‘foreign’ food was first introduced in Britain in the 1950s. Ron does not try the foreign foods because he is not used it, which could be because it’s different and he has not been exposed to non-British dishes before. This is not surprising if this is the case, as he eats homemade meals from his mother, who gets her recipes from British, wizarding, household magazines (the Goblet of Fire, 476).

The food at Hogwarts is a true portrayal of the British culture. This is seen in the many feasts that occur at the school. The food at the feasts is also linked to what the occasion or celebration may be, such as at Christmas and Hallowe’en. The exception to the British-only food is when Hogwarts are acting as a host for foreign schools. However, this is met with some hostility. The magical aspect present here is when the food suddenly appears on the table, which will be discussed in the next post.

I'll leave you with a clip from the first film, so you can see the large selection of food.