During the 46 days from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday, Catholics are forbidden from eating meat on Fridays and Ash Wednesday. That makes for eight days a year where Catholics cannot stroll into their favorite steakhouse and order a prime rib. But are steakhouses able to notice any effect?
“You can tell Fridays are generally busier, but during Lent business drops by about a third,” a source at downtown Washington, D.C., Morton’s The Steakhouse told the Washington Examiner. “It depends on the week, but there’s a noticeable drop.”
A source at Bobby Van’s Steakhouse on 15th Street NW said business on Fridays drops off “just a little bit. Not as much as you’d think.”
It’s easy to think a large swath of the population abstaining from meat might hurt steakhouse sales. After all, one out of four adults in the United States are self-described Catholics, according to the Census Bureau. Still, a drop in business at two D.C. steakhouses does not make a rule.
“You would think [sales would fall], but we’ve been very very busy, unexpectedly,” Michael Melore, the General Manager at the Palm Restaurant in D.C., told the Examiner. “Fridays have been aggressive as well. It is quite a pleasant surprise.”
It helps that only warm-blooded animal meat is prohibited for Catholics. Fish and other seafoods are still acceptable.
James MacLeod, General Manager at The Prime Rib on K Street NW, said the restaurant is largely unaffected by Lent, crediting the menu’s diverse seafood options. “All our seafood is fresh,” MacLeod told the Examiner. He said the restaurant doesn’t alter its menu just because of Lent. “We do our usual, we have about six or seven different fish on the menu…We have fresh dover sole flown in from Denmark. We get halibut, flounder, several different fish.” Indeed, of the 20 entrees on The Prime Rib’s menu, nine seem to be okay for consumption by Catholics on Friday.
At Ruth’s Chris Steak House on 9th Street NW, business is similarly unaffected by Lent. “Since we’re downtown, we get a lot of convention traffic,” Jenny Nong, the Private Dining Manager said. “We also have a lot of seafood items on the menu.”
Even though upscale restaurants might not see much change in sales during Lent, fast food restaurants have reportedly been more affected. Sales at Long John Silver’s rise 25-40 percent during Lent, according to an ABC News report from February. McDonald’s Filet-O-Fish is more popular during Lent, and Arby’s brings back its Wild Alaska Pollock Fish Sandwich for the season.
Since the meat prohibition only applies to warm-blooded animals, reptiles are fair game too. Feel free to chow down on crocodile meat if you’re dining in the Everglades. Eggs are acceptable as well, even though chickens are warm-blooded. Liquid foods made from meat are also exempt, so chicken broth, meat gravies, and any meat-related condiments are acceptable.
It’s unclear why exactly the line was drawn to exempt cold-blooded animals, but the holy significance of fish might have something to do with it. Jesus miraculously fed a crowd of thousands using only five loaves of bread and two fish. Matthew 14:20-21 reads, “They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. The number of those who ate was about 5,000 men, besides women and children.”
Furthermore, 11 of the 12 Apostles were fishermen, with Matthew the lone exception. The importance of these factors and more may explain why fish are exempted.
The Catholic tradition of fasting on Friday dates back to the first century, with various changes in exemptions and dates since then. “Abstaining from meat and other indulgences during Lent is a penitential practice,” according to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. “On the Fridays of Lent, we remember the sacrifice of Christ on Good Friday and unite ourselves with that sacrifice through abstinence and prayer.”
