I don’t do tilapia and know what it looks like so I won’t be bamboozled.
In Houston it’s fried catfish 12 dollars for three large pieces plus sides at the church one minute from me.
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Don’t know if the Archdiocese of Detroit is behind this publicity barrage. But this is the third email blast from our local weekly newspaper I’ve received:
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I want the Men’s Club Sandwich from the Church of Scotland without even knowing what it encompasses.
I notice a lack of alcohol mentioned. Is this being discreet or is it not allowed in Michigan?
Catfish would be wonderful. An unknown dish here in the PNW, for the most part.
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Serving alcohol with these fish frys is allowed, so long as the location has an appropriate liquor license. Most do.
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I grew up Catholic in the 1960’s and abstaining on Fridays was still very much a thing for us and everybody in the parish. The idea was that you were supposed to take the money you saved by not buying meat and put it into the Sunday collection. Back before overfishing and everything else, most fish was cheaper than meat. We liked fish and ate a lot of it anyway - often Fridays we had pancakes or mac and cheese. They kind of changed the rule in the mid-sixties that you could do some other kind of penance or good work instead, but as I said I remember people doing this as a matter of course right through the 70’s. Nowadays I believe that most Catholics no longer do any kind of special anything on Fridays.
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Never heard that take before.
I worked with a guy (recently) who never ate meat on Fridays. I have one sister who still orders a cheese pizza every Friday. I don’t know if she’s observant or just remembers when a Friday pizza delivery was a special treat and she’s just done with cooking and working all week.
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I would welcome this barrage, emails are easy to delete.
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Insider tip, ask one of the servers when the next batch is coming out and you’ll get some hot, fresh fish. There may be a 5-10 minute wait but it’s worth it.
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Comments from a guy who reviews fish frys:
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https://smakofc.square.site/
This one’s in KC.
Still not many Catholics in this neck of the woods.
Are Lenten fish fries happening this year where you live?
Dozens. New Orleans is a very Catholic town. I am devastated that this year I could only eat at two of them before I had to start dieting for my wedding. My normal M.O. is to try a new one every week!
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There’s a church I’ve passed for years here in Los Angeles that has a handwritten sign advertising their fish fries during Lent - they did it for several years, took the past two years off, and are back again. I’m planning to finally go this Friday! I didn’t grow up Catholic (or religious at all, honestly), but I’m familiar with the concept, even though it doesn’t seem to be a feature of many churches out here.
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Being Catholic is certainly not a requirement at any I’ve attended.
Our impression over the years from travels and newspapers is that the Lenten Fish Fry hosted at church social halls and the like are very common and cherished around the Great Lakes where perch and walleye are both tasty an nowhere near budget-busting for all he right reasons.
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What’s interesting, is that they’re not common in Detroit, Cleveland and Buffalo, but fish fry suppers are not common at the churches in Windsor, Sarnia, London, Hamilton or Niagara Falls. Similar % of Catholics in the population in the Ontario cities close to the lakes, and the small town churches in Ontario do Pancake suppers on Shrove Tue, but fish-fries are not as much of a thing.
The fish and chips shops in Ontario are busy Fridays. I’m old school and eat fish on Friday year-round.
I found one Good Friday Fish Fry at a Lions Club in small town Ontario https://granthamlionsclub.com/fish-fry/
Knights of Columbus in Fruitland, near Niagara
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This year’s KC list
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Abstaining from meat on Fridays was fairly easy. If you looked at the “Daily Specials” menu for most cafes in Montana, Virginia and/or Maryland in the 1980’s, the choice on Friday was almost always fish. Just a coincidence? Not likely. They knew that people wanted the choice and it cost them nothing to put the fish special on the menu on Fridays and it gained them a decent amount of patronage.
The states mentioned are the ones I lived in during the 1980’s…
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