Another way to incorporate the liturgy in the home is through the kitchen. Serving special foods on particular days dates back to Biblical times, as in Exodus with the definite prescriptions for the Passover meal. The Sacrament of the Eucharist was instituted by Jesus at a meal. The family gathering for a meal on feast days and sharing the warmth of home and hearth in the name of God is centuries old. Almost every land has traditional foods prepared for special days, traditional dishes with the recipes handed down for generations, many times the whole meal being prescribed by custom, with even the smallest detail being symbolic.
Foods can be symbols which lead the mind to spiritual thinking.
Lent and Advent are the penitential seasons, with Lent being longer and more intensive. Traditionally Catholics would abstain from all dairy products and meat products, including eggs and all fat. The celebration of Fat Tuesday, or Mardi Gras was a feast before the fast, one last fling before the long forty days of Lent. To use up the remaining fat and dairy products, traditional dishes eaten during Mardi Gras in some countries were doughnuts and pancakes. Then Lent with its strict fasting regulations of the past would arrive starting with Ash Wednesday.