[Sca-cooks] Eggs in Lent

Nick Sasso grizly at mindspring.com
Sat Mar 29 09:32:38 PDT 2008



-----Original Message-----
    No meat or dairy products could be consumed during Lent. The egg
prohibition actually goes back to heathen times. They were not eaten
during this time of year as it is the mating season. Olive oil was used
instead of lard. Almond milk was used instead of milk. There does not
seem to be any substitute for cheese. Bread was made with water, no milk
or eggs. No there were no days off during medieval Lents.
    Mark Singleton did a brilliant translation from Spanish into English
of the Archpriest of Hita's Libro de Buen Amor which illustrates this.
Suey  > > > > > >


Unless you 'earned' an indulgence or several.  I do not mean to dierct this
into a religio-political discussion, just that there were gracious plenty of
'legal'/sanctioned means of bypassing lenten dietary restriction for those
who had the resources.

I had thought that High Feast days (like Sundays and Patron Saint Feast Days
. . . hence the word 'feast') were not restricted to fast and abstinance
requirements.  Go figure.

niccolo difrancesco




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