Holidays: Lent

Quick Links:

Food for Lent

Lent is the period of 40 days between Ash Wednesday and Easter in the Christian liturgical calendar. Traditional Christian observances of Lent include fasting. However, the rules have relaxed quite a bit over time and the strictest rules were eliminated in the Roman Catholic Church in 1966. Today, only Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are required to be strict fasting days for Roman Catholics.

There are two kinds of Lenten practices: strict and relaxed.

Strict Lenten Practices

No meat, wine or other alcohol, (olive) oil or dairy, and technically, little or no spices are allowed.
Only about 1-1/2 normal meals per day are consumed.
In many places, no TV, radio, music, movies, parties, or entertainment are observed.
Interestingly, shellfish and octopus are allowed because St. John the Baptist ate "locusts and wild honey" and the sea creatures in question were considered to be more akin to "bugs" than to fish.

Relaxed Lenten Practices

Relaxed Lenten practices allow fish, wine, and oil but forbid eating meat on Fridays and Ash Wednesday.
It is highly likely that this group will continue to eat out in restaurants throughout Lent.

Popular Foods

Operators can respond to the season that culminates with Easter by offering a series of weekly specials that build upon one another in preparation for Easter Sunday, the fifth most popular day to eat out.

For many people, the period of Lent means eating fish.
Ash Wednesday, which ushers in the Lenten season, is the largest sales day for frozen seafood products and the six weeks immediately following is the top selling season for the entire year.
Pasta and pizza are also very popular, particularly on Friday, when most practicing a relaxed fast will look for enjoyable non-meat menu items.

Appetizers

Salads

Soup

Fish

Non-Traditional Items

Pizza and pasta are great items to feature during Lent. Not only will they work for those observing the Lenten season, they have universal appeal to all customers.

Pizza

Pasta