TYPICAL FOOD FOR LENT AND HOLY WEEK IN SPAIN

It has had a great influence on the cuisine of the nation as we can see in its festivities and traditions.
One of the major festivals in the country is Holy Week, it is celebrated before the Catholic holiday of Easter and marks the end of Lent.
Spain has a varied and unique cuisine that reflects this religious and cultural tradition.
Lent and Holy Week in Spain have their special cuisine. One of its features is the austerity both in the preparation of food and the ingredients used.
According to religious tradition, Catholics mustn´t eat meat throughout Lent and Holy Week.
Since meat is forbidden, many of the dishes served during Lent and Holy Week were made with fish and vegetables.

Tradition says that on Fridays of Lent and Ash Wednesday you must fast and abstain from eating any food all day, this sacrifice continues until Good Friday. On this day, abstinence is only from dishes containing meat.
The exception to abstinence was granted by the Catholic Church as a privilege through a document called “papal bull”, the holder of a bull could eat certain foods in these times. 
Fasting should be considered as just having one meal a day and abstain from certain foods. The only meal that was made during fasting was at sunset and it was called "collation". 

Some of the most typical dishes of Lent and Holy Week are:

CHICKPEA STEW WITH COD

This dish is made with chickpeas, spinach and cod. 
Some recipes leave out cod to make a totally vegetarian dish. It has also got plenty of sautéed garlic and leek in olive oil. Soaked and cooked chickpeas are added at this time. Finally, cod soaked and chopped spinach are added to make a tasty stew.


GARLIC SOUP
Another important dish during Easter is garlic soup. Its ingredients are garlic, oil, bread, water and eggs. It is usually served in plates made of clay, it is typical of northern Spain y it will make your spirit and soul warm.

DESSERTS
Sweets and puddings became the protagonists of most of the dishes for satisfying your appetite and helping to avoid the temptation of eating meat. Among the most popular are “torrijas” and fried milk . Here are the recipes.

Torrijas
Ingredients
Stale bread
Milk
Eggs
Cinnamon stick
Olive oil
Preparation 
Cut the bread into slices and soak them in boiled milk with cinnamon sticks and orange peel.
Fry and finally sprinkle with cinnamon sugar flavored.


Fried milk

Ingredients:
1 liter of milk.
Flour
Sugar
Orange peel
Cinnamon stick.
Eggs
Oil for frying

Preparation.
Boil a liter of milk with the orange skin and cinnamon stick.
In a bowl mix the flour with the sugar, Then, we add the milk that we have previously boiled and  mix everything well
We put all the mixture to simmer for approximately a quarter of an hour  while stirring, until the dough gets thick enough. At this point, we can put the dough into a mould and in the fridge to cool down.
Once it is solid we will dice the dough
Put some flour in a bowl and beaten eggs in a different bowl. Dip the bits we cut first into the egg and then into the flour. Finally, fry in sunflower oil or mild olive oil.

Trivial Questions

1º. Christianity was introduced into Spain around:

The year 100
The year 33
The year 133
The year 1

2º. Lent is the period that goes before:

Advent
Christmas
Holy Week
Holiday 

3º. During Lent you mustn´t eat:
Prawns
Meat
Sweets
Fish

4º. The fasting  food at Easter was called
Snack
Canapé
Collation
Tasting

5º. The only meal during fasting at Easter used to be:
Breakfast because it is the most important meal of the day.
At noon
At sunset
At dusk

6º. A  “bull” is
A sin
A privilege granted by the Catholic Church
A pet
University Group

7º. The privilege that allowed certain people to eat meat was called
Gluttony
Tuna
Bull
Mule