NotUrsula
DIS Legend
- Joined
- Apr 19, 2002
- Messages
- 20,030
This is a fun synopsis of the Catholics & fish history:
https://www.npr.org/sections/thesal...e-the-fishy-tale-behind-eating-fish-on-friday
These days, I'm often rather amused at the whole notion of eating fish on "fast days" as a sacrifice. It made perfect sense where I grew up near the Gulf Coast. Dad was a p/t commercial fisherman, and we had fish all the time. It was the cheapest thing for us because all you had to do was drop a net. Dad ran a small trawler, and a typical drop hauled in around 300 lbs., some of it bycatch that got thrown back, but most of it we kept and ate. In a typical fishing day he would drop the net about 4 times just for our own food, so we'd end up with close to a half a ton of food for the price of a tank of fuel. Cheap fish? Check.
Now I live in the Midwest, where fish is much more scarce and expensive; it's usually the second-most expensive dish on most menus (right behind prime beef). Yet, somehow, people here still eat fish as a Lenten "sacrifice". Personally, I always take this rule with a grain of salt: if it's expensive I don't eat it on fast days, even if it is technically allowed. So, things like pasta with truffle sauce are out, too.
Oh, and no Prince spaghetti. Not marketed anywhere I've ever lived.
https://www.npr.org/sections/thesal...e-the-fishy-tale-behind-eating-fish-on-friday
These days, I'm often rather amused at the whole notion of eating fish on "fast days" as a sacrifice. It made perfect sense where I grew up near the Gulf Coast. Dad was a p/t commercial fisherman, and we had fish all the time. It was the cheapest thing for us because all you had to do was drop a net. Dad ran a small trawler, and a typical drop hauled in around 300 lbs., some of it bycatch that got thrown back, but most of it we kept and ate. In a typical fishing day he would drop the net about 4 times just for our own food, so we'd end up with close to a half a ton of food for the price of a tank of fuel. Cheap fish? Check.
Now I live in the Midwest, where fish is much more scarce and expensive; it's usually the second-most expensive dish on most menus (right behind prime beef). Yet, somehow, people here still eat fish as a Lenten "sacrifice". Personally, I always take this rule with a grain of salt: if it's expensive I don't eat it on fast days, even if it is technically allowed. So, things like pasta with truffle sauce are out, too.
Oh, and no Prince spaghetti. Not marketed anywhere I've ever lived.
