After Christmas, Holy Week is the time with the most widespread food traditions.
Spinach on Maundy Thursday and fish on Good Friday can still be found in many households – in some regions more often than in others, according to a survey commissioned by iglo. Food is therefore very important to almost every second Austrian.
In this regard, Christmas is the most traditional in Austrian households, followed by Easter with Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. Spinach on Maundy Thursday is a mandatory meal for three out of ten Austrians. Another quarter don’t always stick to it, but most of the time. The Styrians, Lower Austrians and Burgenlanders are particularly fond of spinach, followed by the Carinthians. So it’s no surprise that around half of the iglo spinach sold annually ends up on the counter before Easter and a total of 3,650 tons of spinach were harvested for iglo in Marchfeld in 2021 alone, it said in a press release.
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The most popular is creamed spinach. Together with fried eggs and potatoes, it is most often found on home plates on Maundy Thursday. And that even though the day has nothing to do with the color green. In fact, the name goes back to the Old High German term “grunen,” which means “to complain” or “to cry.”
The tradition of eating fish on Good Friday is still widespread in one or another household. Just over a fifth (22 percent) adhere to it strictly, and another 30 percent mostly but not always, the survey showed. Serving a fish dish is more common among older people, i.e. those aged 60 to 69 (29 percent). Fish is also served on the table with above-average frequency in Carinthia: one in three people in the south of Austria sticks to this tradition.
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According to the survey, traditional dishes are generally more popular with women than with men. A third of Austrian women always eat spinach on Maundy Thursday, while only a quarter of men eat it. Fish on Good Friday is a regular starter for a quarter of women, but only for just under a fifth of men.