I grew up in those days. Very little meat during Lent. We did get lots of fried perch on Fridays. And that was throughout the year. Dad caught them. It didn’t seem like much of a sacrifice as we were young. We were a lower income family with a garden. I remember lots of spaghetti dinners with just tomato sauce.
I remember the fast days were Wednesday and Friday, or else my memory is faulty with age.
I lived on a farm and we had potatoes and a garden. I remember eating a lot of potatoes and scrambled eggs. No bacon or ham.
In the Orthodox Church we fast through all of Great Lent which this year begins on this coming Sunday evening with Forgiveness Vespers, and continues until the “Feast of feast”—Pascha—celebrated this year on April 8.
During the Great Fast we abstain from all red meat, all poultry, all fish with a backbone (except on the Feast of the Annunciation and Palm Sunday), all eggs, milk, cheese, and dairy. Every day—Sundays included.
We began to prepare our bodies for the Fast this week, called “Cheesefare” by abstaining from all meat, poultry, and fish.
Also important to note that this intense fasting is accompanied by intense prayer. In addition to the usual Saturday Vespers and Sunday Matins and Divine Liturgy we have Great Compline every Monday evening, the PreSanctified Divine Liturgy every Wednesday evening, and the Salutations to the Theotokos every Friday evening.
No wonder one of the hymns for Forgivness Vespers begins “come let us enter into the arena to strive against the passions”