Mexican Lenten food: fritters, romeritos and capirotada

What is it?

Mexican Lenten food is the repertoire of dishes without red meat eaten during the 40 days from Ash Wednesday to Palm Sunday, a period of Catholic abstinence and penance that culminates in Holy Week. Although observing the abstinence has loosened among the present-day population, Lenten dishes keep alive a rich and distinctive gastronomic tradition: capirotada (bread, cheese and piloncillo syrup), romeritos with prawn fritters in mole, Veracruz-style fish, Mexican-style bacalao, potato or huauzontle fritters, broad-bean soup, lentils, beans, salads and an abundance of fish and seafood. Fridays in Lent are strictly observed as meat-free days, including Good Friday. It is one of the most distinctive seasonal menus in the Mexican gastronomic calendar.

Origin and history

Lent as a period of Catholic fasting and abstinence arrived in New Spain with the evangelising friars of the sixteenth century, who adapted the ecclesiastical norms to Mesoamerican food realities. Larousse Cocina notes that in place of European bacalao (scarce and expensive in the interior), the friars and the mestizo indigenous population developed local alternatives: river and lake fish (charal, mojarra, tilapia), dried fish from the Pacific and the Gulf, seafood when there was coastal access, and abundant use of pre-Hispanic vegetables such as romeritos, nopales, quelites, huauzontles and huitlacoche. Mexico Desconocido documents that capirotada emerged as a Lenten dessert in the seventeenth century in central Mexican convents, with religious symbolism (the bread as the body of Christ, the cinnamon as the wood of the cross, the cheese as the shroud, the syrup as the blood, the nuts as the nails). Mexican Lenten cooking has been inscribed in Mexican intangible cultural heritage and is part of the traditional cuisine recognised by UNESCO in 2010.

Characteristic ingredients

Mexican Lenten dishes follow three rules: no red meat (beef, pork, lamb, goat), generally no poultry (although there is regional flexibility), and with fish or no animal protein at all. The main ones are: romeritos with prawn fritters in mole (central Mexico); Veracruz-style fish (whole red snapper in tomato sauce with capers, olives and yellow chillies); Mexican-style bacalao a la vizcaina (also a Christmas dish); red snapper roasted with chile chipotle or adobo; Acapulco-style or Sinaloan-style ceviche; huauzontle fritters filled with fresh cheese and battered in egg; capirotada (bread toasted in piloncillo syrup with cheese, dried fruit and spices); broad-bean soup; lentils with plantain; chillies stuffed with tuna or sardine; nopales with dried prawn; boiled chayotes. Regional cooking offers specific dishes: in Veracruz, varied seafood; in Sinaloa, seafood broths; in Tlaxcala, huauzontle fritters; in Hidalgo, fried charales. The essential ingredients: fish, seafood, dried prawns, romeritos, nopales, huauzontles, capulines, beans, lentils, broad beans, stale bread, fresh cheese and piloncillo.

Cultural significance

Mexican Lenten cooking is one of the most distinctive and best preserved gastronomic ensembles of the national religious calendar, expressing the culinary creativity that arises from restriction and religious symbolism. Although the practice of fasting and abstinence has eased in the contemporary urban population, Lenten dishes (especially romeritos, capirotada and bacalao) remain alive as family tradition and seasonal gastronomy. Fridays in Lent mark peaks in seafood sales at markets, fishmongers and seafood-specialist restaurants. Capirotada is prepared especially for Holy Week and shared with neighbours and family. Traditional Mexican cuisine was recognised by UNESCO as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2010, and Lenten gastronomy is part of that heritage. The Government of Mexico promotes Lenten dishes as a national gastronomic tradition. Economically it sustains the Mexican fishing industry of the Gulf, Pacific and Sea of Cortez during February-April, and producers of romeritos, huauzontles and other ritual vegetables.

Frequently asked questions

What can you eat during Mexican Lent?

Fish (red snapper, mojarra, charal, tuna, sardine, bacalao), seafood (prawn, crab, octopus, squid, oyster, clam), eggs, pulses (beans, lentils, broad beans, chickpeas), vegetables (romeritos, nopales, huauzontles, huitlacoche, quelites), bread (capirotada), pasta, rice, fruit and dairy. What is NOT traditionally eaten on Fridays in Lent and on Good Friday: red meat (beef, pork, lamb) and sometimes poultry.

What is the difference between Lenten food and Day of the Dead food?

Lenten food follows a religious rule of abstinence: no red meat, with an emphasis on fish, seafood and vegetables during the 40 days before Holy Week. Day of the Dead food is a ritual offering over 3 days (31 Oct - 2 Nov) with no dietary restrictions, with festive dishes such as pan de muerto, mole, tamales and atole. They share a mestizo origin and ritual character.

How are Lenten dishes served?

They are served mainly on Fridays during the 40 days of Lent (Ash Wednesday to Holy Saturday), and most strictly during Holy Week. The dishes are prepared at home or eaten at seafood houses and specialist restaurants. Capirotada is served cold or warm as an individual dessert; romeritos hot as a main course; Veracruz-style fish whole to share.

Where does Mexican Lenten cooking come from?

It comes from sixteenth-century colonial New Spanish fusion: the European Catholic rules of abstinence were adapted with Mesoamerican ingredients (romeritos, nopales, huauzontles, charales) and local techniques. The convents of Puebla, Oaxaca and Mexico City developed emblematic Lenten dishes such as capirotada and romeritos with prawn fritters, today part of national gastronomic heritage.