From Joe: Many of the adults that surrounded me as I grew up needed worldly reasons to supplement the religious motives that inclined them to fast during Lent. So, in addition to wanting to follow the rituals of their church, they framed Lent as a time for losing some pounds that would improve their health or their appearance when beach season finally arrived in Chicago.
Food writer Mark Bittman talks about his new experience of fasting for moral values: