Lent in Italy

[davecap]

With the start of Lent and the tradition of eating fish on Fridays, does Italy have any traditions for the Friday meals?

I know when I was growing up we ate of a lot of fried smelts.

[Franci]

I guess in my family we are just bad catholics. We eat meat also on Fridays and Lent is not different then other times of the year. I know some people like to eat baccala' on Fridays.

This would be a good question for the Italian forums I attend, maybe I could be surprised by the number of people that still care, but if I have to judge by the type of recipes that are exchanged I don't think there is many left who still follow a tradition about this.

[Kevin72]

There's a skate and broccoli dish that's popular in Rome on Fridays. Rome seems to still stick to certain traditions or traditional dishes served on certain days, beyond even Lent: Gnocchi on Thursdays, chickpea soup on Tuesdays, etc.

[Kent Wang]

Any explanation for those other traditions?

[Kevin72]

David Downie doesn't give much in the way of explanation in his excellent cookbook Cooking the Roman Way other than that traditonally, each day of the week (except Wednesday, for some reason) came to be associated with a certain dish due to Papal or Catholic rules. Fridays and Tuesdays, for example, were "lean days" and so no meat would be served.

According to Downie, the dish associated with each day of the week are:

Monday: Bollito (boiled meats)

Tuesday: Chickpea and pasta soup

Wednesday: Freebie

Thursday: Gnocchi

Friday: Baccala or skate and broccoli

Saturday: Trippa alla Romana (tripe)

Sunday: Lamb

I thought this would have been some quaint little tradition that passed away in bygone days until our trip to Rome. And in fact, in the tratorrias we went to, they still hold pretty fast to this rule. I tried ordering chickpea soup on Wednesday, for instance, and was told sternly by our waiter that that wasn't possible and got a bowl of borlotti bean soup instead. Also, trattoria menus would list gnocchi on the menu, but with a note beside them: "solo Giovedi"--only on Thursdays.

[hathor]

I don't have any of my notes handy, so I can't be specific, but there was quite a bit of variation or tolerance with the meat ban depending on your region. The land locked places didn't have to eat fish as much as the coastal places. What I'm trying to say is that geography played a role in the rules of when you needed to eat fish. There was also some interesting history tidbits about the fishermen petitioning the church for more meat free days.

I know, I know....I have to back this up with some substance! But, all my notes are back in Italy!