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Even tho I haven’t been an adherent of the Roman Catholic faith and regular churchgoer, since my preteen days of the 1950s/60s, I’m still a spiritual, moral man; fully aware that today is the advent of the Lenten Season; where the following doctrine will be playing out for my former sect’s estimated 1.2 billion, present day congregants:
“Summed up succinctly, Roman Catholics must fast and abstain from meat on Ash Wednesday, Wednesday, March 2, 2022 and Good Friday, April 15, 2022. Additionally, they must abstain from meat on all Fridays during Lent.”
The Catholic Telegraph • 26 February 2022 • Read Full Article
Of course, back in that bygone era, such dietary restrictions were year-round; tho, our having always been allowed to substitute fish for beef / pork / poultry products, strictly speaking, meant “meatless Fridays” had been (still is) a misnomer.
And, tho it’s unclear whether or not the earliest Catholics had even the slightest inkling re the actual health and environmental benefits of humans maintaining a more fish and plant based diet, that was the net effect.
One thing for sure, the earliest agriculturists had certainly realized how much simpler / cheaper sowing and harvesting crops is, in comparison to the breeding and slaughtering of livestock. Better yet, is the life cycle of fish, which requires very little human supervision / intervention.
Anyway… from the time where my age was still measured in single digits, I had actually felt a distaste for meat. You see, my folks had both been poorly paid public school teachers and, as such, had little choice but to purchase the far from choice grades of beef / poultry / pork.
To flesh that out further, whenever Mom had served up the typical hunk of beef-with-a-bad-attitude, it oft meant our biting into gristle; an eye tearing episode that, at times, required conscious suppression of the gag / hurl chunks reflex. To fully fess up, once the Morton brand salt had rained till it poured, I’d frequently chew (to no avail), discretely spit it out into a paper napkin and toss it into the trash.
ASIDE… you know, deep down, I would’ve much preferred meatless Friday rules being in play, everyday, and could’ve easily become a vegetarian; i.e. had my parents been more aware of / amenable to that alternate, far healthier lifestyle.
Be that as it may… the only thing worse than the chewing had been the flavor… uh…
WITH ONE NOTEWORTHY EXCEPTION…
My mom’s pot roasts, totally imbued with onions, garlic, black pepper and other seasonings; the drippings turning into savory gravy; pooling all around the accompanying spuds, carrots and green pepper slices.
I can still fondly recall our intentionally postponed, Friday night suppers, where she’d be slow roasting everything for approximately six hours and then, one minute past the midnight hour; our being safely ensconced in Saturday, temporal territory, we’d dig in and pig out.
Typically, these cuts of rump roast were all large enough to last our family of four, the entire weekend; the delectable leftovers getting served up as both warmed over stews and as cold thinly sliced beef, oft warmed up between two slices of fresh out of the oven, made from scratch, homemade bread.
Truth be told, what this all proves is how our being carnivores is far less about the meat, itself; is all about how expertly everything gets prepared.
So, as for my own observation of the Lenten ’22 dietary restrictions, I’d say all shall go well; seeing how, when I am feeding my face, my primary, protein sources are plant based; how, when I’m not chowing down, this is mainly due to my heightened awareness of all the tasteless, sickening, bad actors playing out their uniquely, ugly, unappetizing current events upon human-UN-kind’s world stage.
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Stay Publicly / Properly Masked!
Stay Safe at Home!
Stay Healthy!
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CommonSenseTom 