Living tradition: Right after Christmas, Holy Week is the time with the most widespread traditions when it comes to food. Spinach on Maundy Thursday and fish on Good Friday are still found in many households — more often in some regions than others, a recent survey found.
Three out of ten people in Austria always eat spinach on Maundy Thursday, and about the same number at least occasionally. This is the conclusion of a study commissioned by food company Iglo.
Maundy Thursday is the fifth day of Holy Week, Christians commemorate the last supper of Jesus on the eve of the crucifixion. According to custom, many people eat green vegetables on that day – although the name Maundy Thursday actually derives from the word “grainen” (cry, complain).
Older people with more sense of tradition
Awareness of tradition increases with age: a quarter of 18 to 29 year olds always eat spinach on Maundy Thursday, and it is eaten most often by the over 50s (35 percent). And contrary to the widespread claim that spinach is not necessarily suitable for children, the dish is often served in households with children, even slightly more often than in the average household (31 percent always, 30 percent occasionally).
Carinthia and Styria as “spinach strongholds”
“Spinach strongholds” can be found especially in the south on Maundy Thursday: every second person in Carinthia and almost four in ten Styrians stick to the food tradition. In the west you can start less with it. Three quarters of the people in Vorarlberg and about seven out of ten Tyroleans do not keep to the custom. According to a survey, Vienna is divided: 50 percent don’t eat spinach here, the other half at least keeps it smooth.
Creamed spinach or leaf spinach?
When it comes to frozen spinach, the creamy variety is the first choice: in 2022, almost six million packages of frozen cream spinach were sold over the counter, as well as about 3.3 million packages of leaf spinach. Passed-on spinach was the least bought with 1.3 million packs. “About 40 percent of the igloo spinach is sold before Easter,” says Markus Fahrnberger-Schweizer, director of igloo Austria.
Fish on Good Friday
In addition, a third more frozen fish is sold during Lent. However, according to the study, the tradition of eating fish on Good Friday is less widespread than spinach on Maundy Thursday: just under a fifth (22 percent) always follow this tradition and another 27 percent sometimes stick to it. Almost a third of the over-50s eat fish, and just over a seventh of the over-50s.
tips: For the igloo trend research, Integral market and opinion research conducted online surveys in February and March 2023 among 1015 Austrians aged 18 to 69 for igloo Austria, representative of this target group.
Source: Krone
I am Wallace Jones, an experienced journalist. I specialize in writing for the world section of Today Times Live. With over a decade of experience, I have developed an eye for detail when it comes to reporting on local and global stories. My passion lies in uncovering the truth through my investigative skills and creating thought-provoking content that resonates with readers worldwide.
