Many modern writers on food, agriculture and diet talk about the need for modern people to be more “mindful” of where food comes from and its connection to the land. That’s not an issue for farm families, who watch it grow or raise it.
For the rest of us, a big source of food mindfulness is religious traditions. In the days before modern refrigeration and food preservation methods, religious feasts and fasts were intimately tied to food production rhythms and harvest cycles. Lamb represents Christ as the Lamb of God, and spring is also the time when lambs are born. Eggs symbolize rebirth and renewal. But Lenten and Easter food traditions are about much more than ham, lamb and eggs.
In Europe, the various fasts of Lent marked a time when fresh meat stocks were low and preserved pork products were running out for many families. “Fat Tuesday” was so named not (as some think today) because it was a time to get fat, but because all the cooking fats in the house were used up to make pastries or rich cakes.
From very early on in Christianity, Lenten fasts were strict, embracing not just meat but all animal fats and dairy products for the entire 40 days—the so-called “black fast” still observed by some Eastern churches to this day. Lenten diets were restricted to fish and vegetables.
Certain foods, like plain pretzel breads made only of flour, water and salt, were developed to be eaten during Lent. The pretzel shape represented the crossed arms of penitential prayer; the word “pretzel” is a Germanic pronunciation of the Latin word “bracella,” or little arms.
In Catholic Europe, the Sundays of Lent were not considered to be part of Lent itself, but “little Easters” instead, and the dietary restrictions of the rest of the week didn’t apply.
In England and Ireland, “simnel cake” (from the same Latin word from which we get semolina, or fine flour) was served for Laetare Sunday in mid-Lent, also called Refreshment Sunday, or on “Mothering Sunday” (the fourth Sunday of Lent). It was a rich fruitcake using eggs and butter and decorated with 11 marzipan balls representing the 11 faithful apostles.
It’s nice to see how food comes full circle with our faith.
David Murray can be reached at [email protected].
