I grew up Catholic in Central Illinois. One of my childhood memories is that during Lent (the church season we are now in, which comprises the 40 days before Easter, not counting Sundays), we would always have to eat fish on Friday. When I asked why, I was told that we were abstaining from meat as a sign of sacrifice to remember Jesus’ sacrifice for us on the cross. Apparently fish isn’t meat.
The best reason, such as it is, for this distinction is found in St. Thomas Aquinas’s Summa Theologica, which is actually a much more amusing read than it sounds. There’s a bit more to it than this, but basically it boils down to “meat is more pleasurable to eat than fish.” With Lent being a solemn season, the Church didn’t want people going out of their way to make merry.
There’s nothing about this in the Bible, of course, because Lent didn’t exist yet when the Bible was written. And St. Thomas Aquinas wasn’t writing down his discourse until the 13th century, so obviously, we’re dealing with a lot of tradition that evolved through the centuries.
The problem with made-up rules is that you’re always. . .
Looking for loopholes.
By my teen years, I had come up with several. Our local Godfather’s Pizza had shrimp available as a topping. That was legal. (I know, veggies would have also been legal, but HELLO, TEENAGER! And don’t get me started on cheese pizza. That’s like kissing your sister.) Once I got tired of shrimp on a pizza, I learned to time the arrival of a Domino’s pizza precisely at 12:01 AM on Saturday. Also legal.
Basically, being a rebellious teenager, I was looking to do ANYTHING but fish. When I officially broke from the Church as an adult, I would deliberately eat cheeseburgers and such on Friday as an act of rebellion.
After a while though, I came to a realization. Catholics have been eating fish on Fridays for centuries. When you do something for a really long time, you tend to get really good at it. One day, one of my fellow Protestant friends said, “I’m craving Catholic fish. Where can I go to get Catholic fish this Friday?” Lightbulb moment. Churches all over our area were hosting Lenten fish frys. And youthful rebellion aside, I really actually like a good piece of fried fish.
So we started making the rounds in Sangamon County. We learned the subtleties of each venue, so by now when we crave “Catholic fish,” it’s a very specific craving as to WHOSE Catholic fish we are craving. Knights of Columbus #4179 on Lake Springfield has the Cajun flavor. Holy Cross Parish in Auburn has fried AND baked fish as well as shrimp, and is all-you-can-eat with fast lines.
One of my favorites now, though, is the Little Flower Men’s Club fish fry in Springfield. These folks have been serving up 800 pounds of fish every Friday in Lent for over 20 years now. They also have grilled cheese, mini cheese pizzas and corn dogs (meat is apparently still legal if you’re below a certain age) for the kids who don’t like fish. They also have ice cream and fresh-made mini donuts for dessert.
The main draw for me, however, is two words–TACO BAR! It’s such a simple thing, but it’s SO GOOD! They have tortillas, lettuce, cheese and salsa like you might expect. But they also have these three sauces that are out of this world. They have a Baja sauce, with flavors of onion, garlic and spicy jalapeno. They have a mild Lime Crema (on top in the picture above) and my favorite, the Cranberry Chipotle.
Chipotle, which is essentially a dried, smoked jalapeno, is one of my favorite flavors in the whole wide everything. It should have a strong smoke flavor and a bite that makes you sit up straight and say, “Oh!” One of my biggest pet peeves is when restaurants or other products use the C-word and don’t deliver on that flavor. This sauce has it.
I crave these Catholic fish tacos so hard that last year, we actually got in line on the first Friday in Lent 45 minutes before the doors opened. The tacos in the picture at the top of this post were the very first ones served that year.
Yes, they’re that good. Go getcha some!
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