So Long and What's With All the Fish?


Yeah, I know it's lent, and apparently that means you can't eat meat on Fridays, except for fish. Catholics and their rules (shakes head). (Disclaimer: my wife is Catholic, so I'm allowed to poke gentle fun, right?)

But hot damn, son. They're all coming out of the woodwork this year. It's standard to have McDonald's deal, that's what the Fillet-o-Fish was created for in the first place, beating out Ray Kroc's "pineapple burger". But everyone's getting in on the action this year: Arby's, Wendy's, Burger King. Famous Dave's had this e-mail promotion where they brought back the Sweetwater Catfish fingers. McDonald's added the Fish McBites to their already prevalent fish sandwich presence. I thought the only chain not getting in on the action was taco joints. Except yesterday I saw a commercial for Taco John's new fish tacos.

What the hell happened? What changed? Am I just noticing this now and it happens every year? Did fish go down in pricing? Is there suddenly a surplus of fish somewhere? Everything I've always read says we are fishing the oceans down to the nub. Why the lent explosion this year? Did I miss something?


Oh, not that I'm complaining, mind you. I LOVE eating fish. I got fish sandwiches instead of Happy Meals when I was growing up. I lurve the catfish fingers + cajun tartar sauce at Famous Dave's. Burger King's fish slathers on a generous portion of tartar sauce (even though I like the flavor of McDonald's better). It's an abbodanza for me. And I don't get to eat fish very often so I intend to take advantage of this hook, line, and sinker. (Yes, my wife, the Catholic, is allergic to fish. Me, the agnostic, loves seafood. Oh, sweet irony.)

Labels: , ,