Frugal eating this Lent as recession bites

This Arts and Humanities Research Council funded project shows that everyday decisions about food and eating possess deep spiritual, social and economic significance.

Pancakes, for example, were originally eaten on Shrove Tuesday to use up dairy products before the start of Lent, when these products were banned. Meat was also prohibited by law during Lent, and anyone caught cooking or eating it could be hauled before the courts. The Lenten period of restraint, focused on a more frugal diet of vegetables and fish, lasted more than six weeks.

Fasting was also closely linked to the seasonal food cycle. Dr David Grumett, a theologian at the University of Exeter, explained: ‘People in the past were used to lurching between periods of abundance and scarcity. The legal restrictions of Lent should be viewed as formal, public recognition of the food shortages that would occur naturally during late winter and early spring, and an attempt to moderate their effects.’

Fasting had other social and political motivations, such as ensuring the poor had sufficient food through lean seasons and requiring even well-off people to experience a meagre diet. National security was also promoted, with consumption of fish instead of meat helping to preserve coastal ports and their economies. Dr Grumett added: ‘The idea that, in past ages, fasting was undertaken voluntarily and for purely personal reasons is a modern myth. People’s everyday lives were far more regulated by government than they are today, including even the foods they ate.’

The idea that it is natural to consume the same kinds of food all year round unaware of seasonal changes in availability is very recent. In an age of freezers and global food supply networks, ordinary people appear to have broken free of old necessities and restraints, enjoying in supermarkets a breadth of choice previously available only to royalty. However, in today’s bleak economy a thrifty approach to food, such as buying seasonal fruit and vegetables, helps ensure a smaller grocery bill and healthier diet. A vegetable diet during Lent is frugal yet desirable because vegetables are cheaper than meat, with good quality available for less money.

The historical findings of the research show that early monastic rules recommended that food be obtained from as close to home as possible, encouraging community responsibility and a simple life. This reveals that current interest in food sourced locally via farmers’ markets and vegetable boxes is nothing new.

Self-denial is also a significant part of Lent a practice mirrored by modern vegetarians, for whom frugal eating can be seen as a virtuous spiritual discipline. In the current climate, being forced to be frugal is likely to encourage more people to rediscover simpler and less complicated lifestyles with deep spiritual roots.

Dr Grumett argues that, by being forced to consume less, people can cut themselves free from dependence on material goods and the continual drive to consume more. He said, ‘Simplicity is about spending no more than we need, and in household bills it’s often about the food we choose. Eating is intrinsically a community activity because when we eat we depend on other people to grow our food, and so often prepare and eat food together.’

He added, ‘By taking another look at food, we focus on how our individual choices affect our society, environment, spirituality and relationships with other people.’