Mental Floss 2017-02-27T22:53:19+00:00 2014-04-18T16:30:00+00:00 2014-04-18T15:29:16+00:00 Why Isn’t Fish Considered Meat During Lent? Rebecca OConnell

The past six Fridays, Catholics observing Lent have skipped sirloin in favor of fish sticks. Why?

Legend has it that, centuries ago, a medieval pope with connections to Europe’s fishing business banned red meat on Fridays to give the industry a boost. That story isn’t true. Sunday school teachers have a more theological answer: Jesus fasted for 40 days and died on a Friday. Catholics honor both occasions by making a small sacrifice: avoiding animal flesh one day out of the week. That explanation is dandy for a homily, but it doesn’t explain why red meat and poultry are targeted—and why it’s perfectly okay to eat seafood.


In Part II of his Summa Theologica, Aquinas wrote:




There you have it. You can now blame those impure thoughts on a beef patty. (Aquinas might have had it backwards. According to the American Dietetic Association, red meat doesn’t boost “seminal matter.” Men trying to increase their sperm count are generally advised to cut back on meat. However, red meat does improve testosterone levels, so it’s give-and-take.)

Aquinas gave a third reason to avoid meat—it won’t give you gas. “Those who fast,” Aquinas wrote, “are forbidden the use of flesh meat rather than of wine or vegetables, which are flatulent foods.” Aquinas argued that “flatulent foods” gave your “vital spirit” a quick pick-me-up. Meat, on the other hand, boosts the body’s long-lasting, lustful humors—a religious no-no.

But why isn’t fish considered meat?

The reason is foggy. Saint Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, for one, has been used to justify fasting rules. Paul wrote, “…There is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fish, and another of birds” (15:39). That distinction was possibly taken from Judaism’s own dietary restrictions, which separates fleishig (which includes land-locked mammals and fowl) from pareve (which includes fish). Neither the Torah, Talmud, or New Testament clearly explains the rationale behind the divide.

It’s arbitrary, anyway. In the 17th century, the Bishop of Quebec ruled that beavers were fish. In Latin America, it’s okay to eat capybara—apparently also a fish—on Lenten Fridays. Churchgoers around Detroit can guiltlessly munch on muskrat every Friday. And in 2010, the Archbishop of New Orleans gave alligator the thumbs up when he declared, “Alligator is considered in the fish family.”

Thanks to King Henry VIII and Martin Luther, Protestants don’t have to worry about their diet. When Henry ruled, fish was one of England’s most popular dishes. But when the Church refused to grant the King a divorce, he broke from the Church. Consuming fish became a pro-Catholic political statement. Anglicans and the King’s sympathizers made it a point to eat meat on Fridays. Around that same time, Martin Luther declared that fasting was up to the individual, not the Church. Those attitudes hurt England’s fishing industry so much that, in 1547, Henry’s son King Edward VI—who was just 10 at the time—tried to reinstate the fast to improve the country’s fishing economy. Some Anglicans picked the practice back up, but Protestants—who were strongest in Continental Europe—didn’t need to take the bait.   

April 18, 2014 - 9:30am