Eating Fish on Fridays During Lent – Fast Food Restaurants Cashing In

 

When I was growing up, I lived in a Catholic household and we observed the rules. One of the most memorable ones for me was not eating meat on Fridays during Lent. 

I recall my mother picking us up from school, and on our walk home we would stop in the seafood store. There were heavenly aromas in that store from the fish frying in the kitchen in the back. 

In the store itself there were glass cabinets filled with ice that featured fish of all types and sizes. I remember them being pressed up against the glass, their dead black eyes sort of magnified by the glass. I felt sorry for those fish, but it seemed as if they were staring at me and blaming me for their predicament. 

Mom would bring home scallops, flounder, or shrimp each week. She would later make the house smell as good as the fish store when she would fry whatever she brought home. For a long time when I was a kid I thought Friday was called Friday because that was when we fried fish.

All these years later, I avoid the seafood store down the block. Not just because of the fish behind the glass, but due to the fact that I am not certain how to cook fish properly. I can cook other meals, but fish worries me because Mom always said you have to "cook fish just right." I'm not sure I can actually do that.

Luckily enough, the fast food giants like Wendy's, Popeyes, and Arby's have their Lenten special fish sandwiches on their menus. McDonald's fish sandwich is available all year long.

Having sampled all three this year since Ash Wednesday –  also a day that abstaining from meat is required – and I must say that they are all very good, but Arby's fish sandwich is the best of the three. 

Arby's fish sandwich comes with shredded lettuce, tomato, and tartar sauce on a sesame seed bun. The piece of fish is more than generous and extends over the sides of the bun. They are also offering Fish 'N Cheddar and King's Hawaiian fish sandwiches. They do have a Surf  & Turf sandwich, but that kind of defeats the abstaining from meat idea.

Are you giving up meat on Fridays during Lent? If you are, the fast food giants are there for you. I'm getting my fish on Fridays this way, and I'm just happy that I don't have to go into the store and see those fish on ice with those big eyes anymore.