‘Game of Thrones’: Is Lamprey Pie a Real Food?
George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire book series and the novel’s adaptation on HBO, Game of Thrones, features several mentions of food. Food plays a huge role in the series as the creator uses it as a symbol of power.
Whether the members of the nobility are planning on how to take power, fight for the Iron Throne, or assassinate someone, many of these events occur at the dinner table. The show mentions several obscure and outright bizarre dishes that should never see the light of day, but some are real dishes that you make at home — is lamprey pie a real meal you can make?
Tyrion Lannister mentions lamprey pie at dinner with his sister
Game of Thrones follows two powerful families with their noblemen, armies, and citizens engaging in a deadly power game seeking control of the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros and sitting on the Iron Throne to become the most powerful people on the land.
Food constantly appears in the HBO adaptation and plays a huge role in the power dynamic. Wine and bread were never amiss, especially in the extravagant parties thrown by the members of the nobility in Westeros and Essos.
One of the indications of status is shown through lamprey pie in season 2. In one scene, Tyrion Lannister is seen indulging in the delicacy while talking about the preparations for the Battle of the Blackwater with Queen Cersei, his sister. In the scene, Tyrion asks Cersei, “Excellent lamprey pie. Were you slaving away in the kitchen all day?”
Lampreys are parasitic fish that look like eels and suck the blood off other fishes. They were a prized delicacy in the medieval era and were mostly prepared for the rich folk of that period. Lamprey pies are real and made with various spices, wine, and then covered in a pie crust.
Lamprey pie has a special place in next year’s coronation ceremony
Lampreys dominated English waterways, but industrialization nearly made them extinct. This forced them into the Great Lakes, where they, in turn, became a problem by decimating native fisheries. To curb the problem, the invasive parasitic species were turned into a delicacy and have been a staple of formal royal celebrations for a long time.
According to Game of Thrones Fandom, King Henry I of England particularly loved the parasitic fish despite warnings from his doctors, resulting in food poisoning and death. According to Yahoo! News, Gloucester was required to produce a lamprey pie every year for the monarch. Lampreys today are a protected species in the United Kingdom, but that doesn’t mean they are not still being consumed.
The Great Lakes Fishery Commission has been supplying its unwanted lampreys to England for years for major royal events and is expected to do so again for King Charles III’s coronation ceremony. The last time the commission supplied the invasive species to England was in 2015, when the country was celebrating the late Queen Elizabeth’s reign.
Other weird eats in ‘Game of Thrones’
Lamprey pie isn’t the only bizarre-sounding food from Game of Thrones. In the first season, Daenerys Targaryen and her husband Khal Drogo learn that they are expecting a son. According to the culture, when a Khal’s wife becomes pregnant, a special ceremony has to be held for her to pray for the mother and child.
Daenerys consumes a raw horse heart in the ceremony while a Dothraki priestess chants prayers in the background. Daenerys gets through the tough muscles like a warrior and is celebrated by the community.
Another bizarre food in the series was the Bowl of Brown consumed by the peasant folk in Westeros. While the royals wined and dined in lamprey pies and jellied calf brains (the Westerosi equivalent of caviar), the peasants had to make do with what they had. The Bowl of Brown could be anything from spoiled meat to pigeons or rats.
