an almost universal practice, is undertaken for various reasons but is more often than not connected with religion. The founding or leading figures in many major religions have been celebrated for, among other things, famous fasts; and all the religions stipulate or at least make provision for fasting at certain times or in certain circumstances.
It is necessary to distinguish between abstinence and fasting. Abstinence is to abstain from particular foods at particular times, whereas fasting is to do without food altogether (or, going to the extreme, without even water) for a particular period, often one day. However, the distinction has been blurred, at least for people in English-speaking countries, by the use of phrases such as ‘fast days’ to indicate when abstinence from meat is practised.
The whole history of abstinence and fasting in the various churches of Christianity is complex and shows a pattern of flexibility and evolution which is perhaps most apparent in Europe, where the practice of the Roman Catholic Church has become more liberal in some respects; the Eastern Orthodox Church has remained relatively conservative. The common feature in the main Christian churches is the observance of abstinence during Lent. But among the Orthodox churches (including here the Coptic church) fasts may occupy up to one-third of the year particularly as Advent is a period of fasting as long as Lent.
Abstinence was responsible for the practice in medieval times and later of calling ‘maigre’ those dishes or versions of dishes which could be eaten during a period of abstinence. The term is French but is so convenient that it was adopted into English from the 16th century onwards.
‘Abstinence’ meant principally abstinence from meat, but could be interpreted in other ways. In recent times some Christians mark Lent by simply abstaining from one or more of their favourite foods, for example chocolate, or from alcohol.
The Muslim institution of Ramadan has an interesting structure. Zubaida (1991) remarks:
Every ritual fast ends with a feast. Lent is followed by Easter and its special foods. The supper after the fast of Yom Kippur turns into a special feast. Ramadhan has the special distinction, however, of repeating the fast-feast cycle each day for a lunar month.
The fasting during the period of Ramadan is the only ‘compulsory’ fast for Muslims, but there are days when a voluntary fast is appropriate, e.g. Ashura.
Among the other major religions, fasting also plays its part, whether the seven fast days of the Jewish calendar, the regular fasts of the Jains, or the fortnightly observances of devout Hindus. The same is true of the Inca, who prepared for their great rituals by fasting (abstaining from chillies, salt, or meat depending on the severity of the fast).
From the medical point of view, limited abstinence would rarely be harmful and often beneficial. The same applies to fasting for a short period, so long as water is taken, but fasting for more than a day without water and any form of prolonged fasting is likely to lead to trouble.
The 11th edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica quotes with approval the view of a Protestant writer who rejected the idea that fasting is a thing meritorious in itself, and doubted its value even as an aid to devotional feeling.
Of course, when bodily health and other circumstances require it, it becomes a duty; and as a means of self-discipline it may be used with due regard to the claims of other duties, and to the fitness of things. In this last aspect, however, habitual temperance will generally be found to be much more beneficial than occasional fasting. It is extremely questionable, in particular, whether fasting be so efficient as it is sometimes supposed to be in protecting against temptation to fleshly sin. The practice has a well-ascertained tendency to excite the imagination; and in so far as it disturbs that healthy and well-balanced interaction of body and mind which is the best or at least the normal condition for the practice of virtue, it is to be deprecated rather than encouraged.
However, for those who see fasting as an obligation to their deity, these words would have seemed largely irrelevant, since they would see the obligation as overriding, not subject to health considerations. The same might be said of those who have indulged in fasting for political reasons (the hunger strike's origins are usually traced to Mahatma Gandhi) or for modern dietary reasons, whether to detoxify the body (perhaps best thought of as a diet) or to pursue some more worrying goal relating to self-esteem and body image. Early examples of anorexia are often, but not invariably, linked to religious practices but the complaint has entirely shed its devotional infrastructure. As we have been the better supplied with food, so we have taken to shunning it with more enthusiasm.
Alan Davidson was a distinguished author and publisher, and one of the world's best-known writers on fish and fish cookery. In 1975 he retired early from the diplomatic service—after serving in, among other places, Washington, Egypt, Tunisia, and Laos, where he was British Ambassador—to pursue a fruitful second career as a food historian and food writer extraordinaire. Among his popular books are Seafood of South-East Asia, North Atlantic Seafood, and Mediterranean Seafood. In 2003, shortly before his death, he was awarded the Erasmus Prize for his contribution to European culture.
Zubaida, Sami (1991), ‘Ramadhan’, in Walker (1991).
