Jesus did not have such illusions, but we have illusions about Jesus. He did not come to bribe us with earthly bread, or astonish us with feats of invulnerability. He did not seek world domination or command an army. He simply did the will of the Father. In Lent, we abstain from meat on Fridays, Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.
Many people perform acts of penance or mortification, such as giving up sweets, TV and the like.
The desert experience is about deprivation. Most of the world experiences it involuntarily. For many people, however, deprivation is a great evil, and to be avoided at all costs. In deprivation, we discover that we are not all-powerful. We are slaves to our bellies, to the opinions of others, to pleasure.