Easter is a great Christian holiday that unites all historical churches and a significant part of Protestant denominations. In order for believers to prepare for it, they observe the fast called the Great. This process of spiritual purification, among other things, involves the denial and restriction of the use of certain types of food. Even in the years of the God-fighting, there were people in our country who sacredly observed the rules prescribed by believers in the Orthodox Church, and today millions of believers observe Lent. What you can, what you can’t eat, and what the menu should be like during the preparation for Easter will be described below.
A bit of history
An example of the rejection of all earthly pleasures, including eating food, was shown to his flock by Jesus Christ himself, who, after his baptism by John the Baptist, retired for 40 days to the desert. The first Christians turned this into a tradition and during the year kept only one fast before Easter. During this period, they had to eat only bread and water, giving up wine, sweet and nutritious, and also spending days in prayers and giving alms. The first followers of Christ and the fathers of the church also determined the rules on how to organize Lent, what is possible, what is impossible, etc. We are guided by them to this day.
Fasting and diet
Today you can often hear from colleagues, friends or acquaintances that they are going to fast in order to lose weight. Especially often such thoughts are expressed by young girls and women. The Church considers such an approach a sin, and people who consider this forty-day feat of abstinence as a kind of diet, calls to delve into its essence. Indeed, in the Great, as in any other post, the most important is the spiritual side. Thus, the rejection of certain types of food is intended only to contribute to the sincere repentance of the Christian. But the question of what can be eaten in fasting (Great Lent) cannot be considered secondary, and it should be dealt with.
Kinds
According to the Orthodox tradition, monks and clergymen should fasten most strictly, for which several types of fasting are provided:
- “With fish poisoning”, when it is possible to eat vegetable food seasoned with vegetable oil in any cooking, as well as fish and fish products;
- “With the effect of boiling with oil”, involving the inclusion in the menu, including hot vegetable food, seasoned or cooked in vegetable oil;
- “With the fusion of boiling” when using hot dishes prepared from ingredients exclusively of vegetable origin without oil;
- “Strict fasting”, involving fasting, when a believer can only drink cold water;
- “Dry-eating”: you can only eat unboiled vegetable food in a cold form without adding oil and consume an unheated drink.
In addition to what you can and cannot eat in fasting, the monastery charter also regulates the number of meals. In particular, it is allowed to eat food only once a day, after Vespers.
Rules of Reward (for food) for the laity
In recent decades, the Orthodox Church has been carrying out extensive educational work in order to explain to believers the rules that their ancestors followed for millennia. This educational program is really necessary, since many do not even know basic things. For example, during public conversations with shepherds one often hears the question: "What can and cannot be eaten during Lent?" As for the monastic fraternity, and for the laity, on different days of the week a different degree of severity of abstinence from food is supposed. In addition, during the post there are several holidays, when some indulgences are made.
Lent menu: what you can eat and what not on the days of the week
The strictest abstinence is prescribed to be observed on Clean Monday (first day) and on Good Friday, when believers should refuse food altogether and consume only cold water.
To the question of what can be eaten in fasting (Great Lent), one can answer this way: “Much depends on what day of the week we are talking about.” For example, on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, during the 40 days preceding Easter, the Orthodox are instructed to adhere to dry-eating. In other words, they should only eat dishes from herbal ingredients that have not been cooked. Moreover, the number of meals should be reduced to one, which takes place in the dark.
On Tuesdays and Thursdays it is allowed to eat boiled food, but it should not even be seasoned with vegetable oil. As for what you can and cannot eat during fasting on Saturday and Sunday, these are the most “satisfying” days when it is allowed to eat hot dishes cooked in vegetable oil. In addition, during the period of spiritual cleansing, on the eve of Easter, the Feast of the Annunciation is celebrated, as well as Palm Sunday, in honor of which believers can include fish in their menu.
It should be noted that during all 40 days of Lent it is strictly forbidden to eat meat, any dairy products and eggs. You should also abandon baking, chocolate and, of course, alcohol.
Who may not fast
The church makes an exception and does not require fasting by all those Orthodox whose abstinence from food can lead to health problems. In particular, fasting, including the Great, should not be observed by the sick, as well as young children, pregnant women and nursing mothers. An exception is also made by the elderly, people with weakened immune systems, those who engage in heavy physical labor, traveling and imprisoned. If, however, the desire to fast is very strong, then they should talk with the priest in order to receive his blessing and find out with what kind of concessions they should do it.
Lent: menu (what you can and cannot eat), examples of dishes
Orthodox hostesses, especially young ones, often find it difficult to feed the household, observing all the prescribed rules. If you look closely at the list of products that are not among the prohibited, it turns out that making the right menu is not so difficult. For example, from what you can eat in Lent, the main emphasis can be placed on cereals, nuts, vegetables and fruits. Moreover, the church does not prohibit the use of all kinds of pickled fruits and vegetables and pickles. In addition, juices and preserves are allowed, which may well replace sweets and desserts. Add to this fresh and frozen fruits, vegetables and mushrooms, and it turns out that you have a pretty good selection of products. By the way, it is not at all necessary to limit oneself to only traditional Russian dishes, because canons are also sacredly observed by Serbs, Bulgarians, Orthodox Arabs, Georgians, in whose national cuisines there are a lot of interesting meatless dishes.
What to cook
Lent is taking place these days. What you can, what you can’t eat, you already know, and now is the time to learn how to cook several dishes that will help not to harm your health and at the same time observe all the rules.
So, the basis of the menu should be salads from boiled or only raw products, seasoned or not seasoned with oil, depending on the day of the week for which it is prepared. It will also include soups that can be consumed on days when boiled foods are allowed. By the way, despite the fact that baking on fasting days is prohibited, this applies only to those rolls, cakes and biscuits for which the dough is kneaded on eggs, sour cream, butter, cottage cheese, yogurt or other dairy products. It seems to you that without all this nothing to bake? However, recipes will be presented below that will change your idea of what you can and cannot eat in Lent, without violating the rules of abstinence.
Lean soups
Celery Carrot
2 stalks of celery, 400 g of carrots, half a head of onion, cut into pieces, put a pan, pour two glasses of water and cook until the carrots are ready. Beat soup in a blender, salt, pepper, add ½ tsp. nutmeg and as much honey. Pour the contents of the blender into the pan and cook for another 2 minutes (no more). Sprinkle with parsley and basil before serving.
Eggplant soup
One eggplant cut the stalk and bake in the oven. Peel it and cut it. Half the onion and 1 clove of garlic are finely chopped and sautéed in vegetable oil. Poured into a pan 1/2 tbsp. l tomato paste, diluted in 1 tbsp. water, add onions and garlic along with oil, put chopped eggplant, salt, pepper and cook for 10 minutes. Sprinkle with herbs before serving.
“Monastic”
It will take : ½ tbsp. mineral water (sparkling), ½ tbsp. vegetable oil, half a can of jam (better than pear) and flour in an amount sufficient to make an easily rolled dough.
Preparation : Pieces of fruit are removed from the jam and allowed to drain. Of all the other ingredients, the dough is kneaded. Roll it out, cut it out with a glass or a tin mold. Each wrap in a tube, putting one piece of pear. Spread on a greased baking sheet and bake in a preheated oven for a quarter of an hour.
Lean cookies
Take 6 tbsp. flour, 2 tbsp. starch, 1 tbsp. vegetable oil, the same amount of water, 1 tsp. soda, citric acid on the tip of a knife and 2 cups of sugar.
Preparation : Quench soda with citric acid solution. Grind flour and starch with vegetable oil. Enter slaked soda. Sugar dissolved in water is added. Knead is not very cool dough. Roll out, cut out with the help of molds figures and bake until tender.
Please note that food in the post is considered (what you can and cannot eat is described above). During this period, although sweets are allowed, they are not recommended to be abused. Therefore, you should not overeat even a lean, but sweet cookie.
Salads
The first thing they recommend to those who don’t know what to eat at Lent is to make a salad, for example, from mushrooms with walnuts. For this, the kernels of nuts are fried in a heated pan without oil. Twigs of tarragon and shallot are washed and finely chopped. Olive oil is mixed with salt, pepper and vinegar. Frieze salad is torn to pieces by hands. All ingredients are mixed with canned champignons and seasoned with a mixture of oil, vinegar and spices.
Now you know the importance of food in Lent. What you can, what you can’t and what to cook, you also know, so you can properly prepare for the Great Feast of the Holy Sunday of Christ.