REMEMBER NO MEAT FRIDAYS?

Tags: Food And Drink, No Meat Fridays, Friday Meals
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Ay, sperm whale fat we ate, matey, fried in, fried in... more sperm whale fat.

(Actually, no, sorry. But I've been surrounded by it in Seattle and Madison... Whale actually was considered an excellent Friday option for some time, as it was considered a fish. Good business for the Basques, who made excellent whaling boats...)

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That's one of the reasons whale is popular in Japan. The Buddhist population isn't supposed to eat meat, but fish is OK, and whales are considered fish.

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Resurrecting this thread by adding as a post script - I do love eating fish now, preferably local fresh out of the sea fish (too bad I live where I do - only one place I've been to understands how to prepare fish). I didn't really learn to love fish until Harvey, a teacher of my husband and friend of both of ours, served us different correctly cooked fish or shellfish at his house for several dinners. That man really taught us how to eat, major connoisseur, so I always tried anything he served - and besides I was always helping him cook.
Really good swordfish, halibut, sole, shadroe, mussels on St. Pat's day... fresh salmon.
The only item I've improved on that I don't think he ever served was fresh wild northwest US salmon.

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We had meatless Fridays when I was a kid but I think it was more about being economical than it was obeying the Pope.

My lifestyle has evolved to just the opposite now. I have meatless weeks and meat on Fridays, for pretty much the same reasons.

My brother and I still don't let my mom forget about some of her experimentations with meatless meals, the most infamous one being the tuna, noodle and peanut butter gravy casserole. She says she doesn't remember ever serving such a thing but if she had, it was in an effort to include some protein. I remember it! Shocked

She's a much much better cook now.

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@Butrflynet,

Fridays still is the traditional day for eating fish - even the mobile fishmongers from the North Sea make their inland tours on Thursdays/Friday mornings.

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@Walter Hinteler,

One of the sub sandwich shops still does tuna specials on Friday. Other than that, you don't hear about meatless Fridays.

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@ehBeth,

It's not meatless in the restaurants - but they've got special fish dishes

As a child, I liked to travel - even if it was just to the next town: travellers were allowed to eat meat then.
(Not that I disliked fish, quite the opposite. But it was something so unusual, special.)

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We also had fish sticks at school every Friday. All of my friends were Catholic. Most of them had fish for dinner or meatless spaghetti.

I remember Vatican II like it was yesterday. All of a sudden tradition was thrown out the window and a new world order was installed within Catholicism. Masses were in English, breakfast before mass on Sunday's was allowed (no more passing out in church from being too hungry), meat on Fridays... it was the first time I questioned dogma and faith. Who are these Cardinals? Who is the Pope?

I grew up in a mostly Catholic neighborhood. Until Vatican II I figured I must be missing out on something. I went to catechism with my friends once a week after school (there was nothing else to do on those days anyway). And then a bunch of old men sat in a room and decided that folks could in fact get into heaven if they ate a hamburger on Friday.

I didn't get it. I still don't get it. But that was the end of my journey towards Catholicism. It was the beginning of my journey towards a personal spirituality that has nothing to do with dogma. Heh - quite a response from a 9 year old kid but, yes, I remember fish on Fridays, msolga. I never did like fish sticks.

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@Butrflynet,

Butrflynet wrote:

the most infamous one being the tuna, noodle and peanut butter gravy casserole

she was ahead of her day there - that's a very thai-style combo

there's a very popular tinned tuna here that comes with a chili-peanut sauce. I stir it into rice noodles for a quick cheat on pad thai

of course, you've got to be quite careful about the balance of those flavours

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@JPB,

JPB wrote:

I remember Vatican II like it was yesterday.

Me too, me too.. only I was twenty, and already mid-process in the questioning. It would take me a while since I wended my way theologically as well as by 'faith, yes or no', which ended up being a drop shot.

I wonder what it means....
I've been researching fish cake recipes lately..

I think that means I'm inquiring about how to eat more fish for the nutrition without more expense..

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@ehBeth,

remember a story from the "good old days :

the bishop visits a monastery on a friday and notices that roast goose is on the menu .
upon questioning , he is being told that the monks found the goose swimming in the pond ... and thought it was some kind of a fish .
hbg

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@JPB,

Some fish-Latin:

Caviar emptor - beware of the fish.
Carp diem - seize the fish.
Veni, vidi, fishy - I came, I saw, I fished.
Cod erat demonstrandum - proving the fish.
Squid pro quo - done a fishy deal.
Tempus fish-it - time flies when you're fishing.
Prima fishy - first fish.

The custom of eating fish on Fridays reflects the Canon Law about the days of abstinence:

Quote:

Canon 1250 All Fridays through the year and the time of Lent are penitential days and times throughout the entire Church.

Canon 1251 Abstinence from eating meat or another food according to the prescriptions of the conference of bishops is to be observed on Fridays throughout the year unless (nisi) they are solemnities; abstinence and fast are to be observed on Ash Wednesday and on the Friday of the Passion and Death of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Canon 1252 All persons who have completed their fourteenth year are bound by the law of abstinence; all adults are bound by the law of fast up to the beginning of their sixtieth year. Nevertheless, pastors and parents are to see to it that minors who are not bound by the law of fast and abstinence are educated in an authentic sense of penance.

Canon 1253 It is for the conference of bishops to determine more precisely the observance of fast and abstinence and to substitute in whole or in part for fast and abstinence other forms of penance, especially works of charity and exercises of piety.

It really is and was more a question of local/regional/national tradition - and how it was decided locally, even before Vatican II (our vicar thaught it to be more a 'healthy' suggestion - and taught such).

The Second Vatican Council "legalised" these practises:

Quote:

The National Conference of Catholic Bishops in their pastoral statement of November 18, 1966 determined the
following:

Catholics in the United States are obliged to abstain from the eating of meat on Ash Wednesday and on all Fridays during the season of Lent. They are also obliged to fast on Ash Wednesday and on Good Friday.
Self-imposed observance of fasting on all weekdays of Lent is strongly recommended. Abstinence from flesh meat on all Fridays of the year is especially recommended to individuals and to the Catholic community as a whole.

Source: (pdf-data) Diocese of San Diego

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My only experience with meatless Friday was during my service on board a Navy destroyer. We had some sort of fish. I can't recall now, if there was an alternate dish, or if we had no choice at all. I enjoyed having fish as a break from the regular fare.

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@edgarblythe,

Friday was a meatless day on board, too - though there weren't a lot of Catholics (but mostly they complained about the fish).

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We weren't Catholic but generally did observe mostly meatless Fridays at home just the same--probably because it was a good excuse to have fish which we all enjoyed. It became even more of a tradition after we incorporated Catholics into the family via marriage.

About those 'yucky' fish sticks of some years ago, we have discovered that Gorton's frozen crispy fishsticks heated 20 minutes in the oven (10 minutes to a side) are quite tasty as a quick no fuss entre. Add some ketchup, fruit, finger veggies and olives and it makes a great quick meal to share watching a great movie.

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@Foxfyre,

Lots n lots of catsup. Wink

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REMEMBER NO MEAT FRIDAYS?

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