‘The Hobbit’: Here Is What Beorn Eats (And No, It’s Not Meat!)

What Does Beorn Eat?

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In this article, we are going to introduce you to Beorn and his eating habits. You are going to find out what Beorn eats, as well as why his diet consists of simple vegetarian dishes. We’re going to give you lots of interesting information, so keep reading until the end to find out everything you want to know!

  • Article Breakdown:
  • Despite transforming into a bear, Beorn keeps a simple, seemingly vegeterian diet that consists of bread, honey and clotted cream.
  • Quite unusual for a forest-dwelling character that transforms into a bear, but it seems that he eats that and that only.

What does Beorn eat?

The question of Beorn’s eating habits is one of the more interesting ones in the book. Namely, Beorn is a Man, meaning that he is naturally an omnivore. He also transforms into a bear, an animal that is also omnivorous, with some species being more carnivorous than others. So, a Man transforming into a bear should certainly be a carnivore, if not an omnivore, right? Let us see this scene:

As we can see in the scene taken from The Desolation of Smaug, there’s no meat on Beorn’s table, not even for the omnivorous Dwarves, whom Beorn is not quite fond of. This suggests that Beorn is vegetarian, which is confirmed in the books, where it is revealed that Beorn’s diet consists of bread, honey and clotted cream.

This is a rather peculiar fact about Beorn and something that is completely odd when you look at his character from a superficial standpoint. Everything about him suggests that he should be a carnivore, and yet the guy wouldn’t touch meat, which is a brilliant twist if you ask us. In the final section of this article, we are going to tell you why that is.

Why does Beorn eat only cream and honey?

So, now that we have established that Beorn has a vegetarian diet that consists of bread, honey and clotted cream, we can tell you why that is. The answer to this question is connected to his relationship with the animals he cares for and protects. Namely, Beorn is very fond of animals and all living creatures in general. Living where he does, he is, in a way, their protector and is responsible for their lives.

Killing animals is murder and Beorn is aware that by killing them and later eating them, he would be doing the one thing he, as the animals’ protector, is not supposed to do. He has the utmost respect for his animals and he treats them as equals, which makes sense since he himself can turn into an animal and knows very well how that feels.

By doing this, he shows that he cares a lot for all benevolent living creatures and that he is a protector of life. In that aspect, he also sets an example for his bear form (the degree of control he has over it varies), showing that it should also care for all those living creatures, which it might not do otherwise. This is why Beorn’s character is so interesting and why the fans generally like him in both the book and the movies.

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