Good Friday: why do we eat codfish? – 04/07/2023 – Science

The secular influence of Christianity and a series of historical coincidences ended up transforming cod into the traditional dish of Good Friday in Brazil – even if, at first glance, there seems to be no connection between the North Atlantic fish and the biblical narrative of the crucifixion. Of Jesus.

During his preaching in the towns of Galilee and in Jerusalem, Jesus of Nazareth was notable for criticizing the ostensive fasting practiced by some of his fellow Jews.

He attended parties, socialized with members of all strata of society, including members of marginalized groups, such as prostitutes and tax collectors. Therefore, his opponents called him “a glutton and a drunkard”, according to the Gospels. Jesus was not bothered by the irony, but, according to the evangelists, he would have warned his disciples that when they lost his company, then they would begin to fast (a premonition of his death on the cross, according to early Christian belief). ).

In fact, after the death of Jesus, the Christian communities that spread across the Mediterranean resumed more ascetic habits, similar to those of some currents of Judaism and also of certain pagan philosophers of the time.

There was a habit among these communities of fasting, especially on Fridays, as it was the day on which Christ was crucified, and also of abstaining from meat consumption in part or even total form.

In the case of meat from domestic animals, this was also encouraged by the fact that animals such as oxen, sheep and cows were often sacrificed to pagan gods, which the first Christians classified as demons. It was common for the meat of animals sacrificed in temples to be, later, marketed normally in the cities of the Roman Empire.

Therefore, the impression of some people in the ancient world is that the first Christians were vegetarians, says Dale Martin, professor emeritus of New Testament and Christian Origins at Yale University (USA), since Christians wanted to avoid the risk of eating “pagan” meats.

Fish, as they were not offered as sacrifices to these deities, escaped the Christian distrust regarding the consumption of meat from mammals and birds.

When Christianity became the dominant religion of the Roman Empire from the 4th century CE onwards, concern for the ritual purity of the flesh disappeared. On the other hand, ascetic practices became more codified, as well as holy days, including Lent (a period that recalls Jesus’ fasting in the desert, narrated in the Gospels), Holy Week and the celebration of Easter. In late antiquity and the early Middle Ages, the practice resembled, in certain respects, that of Ramadan among Muslims: the faithful were expected to consume only water during the day and eat a very modest meal in the evening.

During this period, both mammalian and poultry meat and dairy products were not to be consumed, while fish, in moderation, was allowed. However, over the centuries, as the Catholic Church spread its influence to the New World, the definition of what exactly counted as “fish” became relatively flexible, taking into account local cultures and the peculiar characteristics of the animals consumed.

In the French colonies in North America, for example, from the 17th century onwards, both beavers from the coldest areas and alligators from the swamps near New Orleans were allowed, as they are semi-aquatic animals. The same happened with capybara meat during the Spanish colonization of Venezuela.

In the Brazilian case, the influence of the Portuguese colonizers, who were already great consumers and fishermen of codfish since the first centuries of the Age of Navigation, began to bring the fish to the country’s tables. This intensified in the 19th century, with increasing efficiency in capturing the species and in methods of preserving and storing the fish.

The predilection for cod has put pressure on populations of the species, which have lost much of their abundance in regions such as the Northwest Atlantic since the end of the 20th century.