Tuesday of this week was officially “Fat Tuesday”, the last day before the
beginning of Lent. In keeping with the spirit of the day, I planned to make jambalaya
when I got home. If you would like to make the same recipe, here is one example:
Inertia being what it is, I wound up instead buying a can of
Campbell’s gumbo soup, which was
considerably easier to make – and it only cost me $1.99. I actually made gumbo
from scratch when I lived in Flagstaff, and it took SEVERAL hours to make, so
don’t try to do it yourself.
Fat
Tuesday is also known as Shrove Tuesday. The
expression "Shrove Tuesday" comes from the word shrive, meaning "absolve". Like
Lent itself, Shrove Tuesday is a time for Christians to "make a special point of self-examination, of considering
what wrongs they need to repent, and what amendments of life or areas of
spiritual growth they especially need to ask God's help in dealing with.".
Some Christian communities celebrate the day by consuming pancakes. In others, especially those where it is called Mardi Gras or a
translation thereof, it is a carnival day, the last day of "fat eating" or
"gorging" before the fasting period of Lent. In case you are wondering,
“Mardi Gras” is French for “fat Tuesday”.
Shrove
Tuesday first started around 1000 A.D., but Mardi Gras has been around even
longer, since it goes back to around 100 B.C., and was associated with the
pagan feast of Saturnalia, which eventually became Christmas.
Since I went to a Catholic grade school and a Catholic high
school, I got ashes on my forehead on Ash Wednesday for many, many years. The
last time that I remember getting them was when I lived in Evanston, Illinois,
and a female Episcopalian minister was giving ashes to people at a train stop
in town. Surprisingly, the origin of ashes on the forehead is actually a Jewish
tradition, and it dates back to the 1st century A.D..
Another feature of Lent, of course, is the absence of meat. The
Catholic church still recommends abstaining from meat on Fridays, but since the
second Vatican council, it is no longer mandated, but SUGGESTED. However, the
current requirement is that Catholics also abstain from meat during Lent. Although
fish has traditionally filled that role (which is why McDonald’s started to
sell fish sandwiches in the 1960’s), the introduction of Beyond Meat and the
Impossible Burger have expanded the number of options to avoid meat. Burger
King sells the Impossible Burger and Carl’s Jr. sells a Beyond Meat burger, and
you honestly can’t tell the difference between those offerings and a traditional
hamburger. Sales of these two products is now $1 billion a year,
Lent is a precursor to Easter. Since the date of Easter is
determined by the lunar calendar, it can be celebrated as early as March 28, or
as late as April 21. In 2020, it is celebrated on April 12, which happens to be
my sister’s birthday.
It’s still too early to put on your fancy Easter clothes, but it’s not too soon to start eating a lot
more fish. Tonight’s entrée was coconut shrimp – but we will have consumed a
lot more fish before Easter gets here.
Bon appetit!
