Update:
This story is an updated version of the original published on March 17, 2023.
Dallas Mexican restaurants help keep Lent traditions alive by offering special dishes
One of the tastiest traditions in the Mexican cuisine are the foods eaten during Lent.
Nopales (prickly pear cactus) with eggs, tortitas de camarón (dried shrimp patties), fish, lentils or dried broad beans. The Mexican food count for Lent is never-ending, and many of these dishes are available in the D-FW area.
Lenten Fridays are usually special for Hispanics who follow the Catholic tradition of not eating meat.
It is not just about eating a dish without meat. There are a series of traditional preparations that have passed from generation to generation and that are preserved in many Hispanic homes.
“The tradition of not eating meat comes from Spain [from Europe in general] and from the Catholic religion,” explained Pilar Zazueta, a historian at the University of Texas at Austin. “The prohibition of meat made cooks experiment and become more creative.”
Lent is the 40-day period between Ash Wednesday and Maundy Thursday, when Christians of different denominations prepare to commemorate the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Not eating meat signifies a sacrifice in the name of faith.
VIDEO: Lenten food with all Mexican flavor
Lenten food with all Mexican flavor
Alejandrino Fernandez is a native of the Mexican state of San Luis Potosi. He is the head chef at El Ranchito Mexican restaurant in Oak Cliff. For him, Lenten food connects him directly to his childhood in Mexico.
“My parents and grandparents always told us that this practice had to be respected, and they prepared this special food, and now my family eat that as well,” Fernandez said. “At the restaurant, many customers always come looking for this food at this time of year.”
Every Friday during Lent, El Ranchito offers a menu of lentils, fish fillet, fish patties, grilled shrimp, nopales con huevo and capirotada, a special Lenten dessert. A similar menu is offered at other Mexican restaurants in North Texas.
The first written recipes for Lenten food in Mexico date back to the convents of the 16th and 17th centuries, Zazueta said, when the country was still a colony of Spain.
Many of the traditional dishes combine elements of foods eaten in Europe with those eaten by indigenous peoples, such as broad beans and nopales.
El Ranchito is located at 610 Jefferson Blvd., in Dallas. On Fridays and Holy Week days, it serves a special Lenten dish with breaded fish fillet, lentils, fish patties, grilled shrimp, eggs with nopales and capirotada.
