Very much so. The obvious connection is temporarily abstaining from the food you're used to grabbing, but it goes deeper. Catholics (as well as some Protestant denominations) in America celebrate Lent in a relatively relaxed way, forgoing some habit or just eating lower on the food chain on Fridays, but even today there are hundreds of millions of Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholic adherents who spend the whole period as vegans.
OK, six weeks is a stretch for most of us. Oprah pal Freston, the author of Veganist (which shares techniques for "leaning in" to veganism), previously walked the talk-show queen through a vegan cleanse half that long, three weeks.
Still too much? All right, then, let's just look at the next few Fridays.
If you like rocking the "Meatless Fridays" option, you're in luck. A new lunch-delivery service has hit the streets of Center City, and the food is all vegan. Miss Rachel's Pantry is a catering and meal-delivery service run by Rachel Klein, who will, if you order by Thursday night, bring a hot vegan meal to your desk for Friday lunch for just $10.
A vegetarian since childhood and a lifelong foodie, Klein (daughter of Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Michael Klein) went vegan a couple of years ago and decided to expand her game after years of juggling personal-chef gigs and desk jobs. The one-day-a-week lunch was partly a response to popular demand.
"My friends kept telling me, 'You have to open a lunch truck down here [Center City].' I said, 'Well, no, I don't want that, but I will bring you lunch.' "
The choice of Friday wasn't for the Lenten tie-in, Klein said. "It's just because Friday is fun day."
