Where Y’Eat: Despite Pandemic, a Friday Seafood Tradition Endures and Expands

WWNO - New Orleans Public Radio | By Ian McNulty

Published March 11, 2021 at 4:35 PM CST

Entering year two of the pandemic, many of the things we love about New Orleans life are again being postponed, pushed back or thrown into doubt.

And yet, some food traditions do continue, giving us that needed connection to each other even through all the protocols we abide to protect one another.

One has been on display each week, the Friday seafood tradition. Yes, of course it comes from the Catholic practice of meatless Fridays in Lent, which inevitably brings up all the jokes about the "penance" of eating seafood in a land famous for it instead of just downing another burger.

But the tradition by now is also broadly cultural too. It is what many people here do on Fridays.

What’s so impressive to me about the Friday seafood tradition in Louisiana is the way it brings people together for a common purpose, and that feels more important now than ever. After all, the classic church fish fry is a fundraiser for the community that hosts it. This year, some church fish fries continue in drive-thru mode.

This year there’s a different extension of that idea running through restaurants. It’s a campaign called Fish Fry Fridays and it has a double bottom line - driving business to local restaurants that surely need a boost and also raising money, with a portion of the ring going to a crisis fund for hospitality industry people (find a list of restaurants and their menus at fishfryfridays.org).

Now that we're at about midway point of Lent, what's come shining through all this are enduring qualities of the season - the welcome, the gratitude and the flavor you get from Louisiana people doing what they truly love.

No two fish frys are really the same. Churches have different menus, the cooking teams have different techniques, and now these restaurants are putting their own signatures on their weekly seafood dishes from whole fish to elaborate chef specials.

No, it does not feel like a penance, but it sure feels significant, especially this year. It feels like us, and I’m ready for another serving of that.