Read the excerpt from The Time Traveler’s Guide to Elizabethan England. There is some respite at the end of the reign: the law a
gainst eating meat on Wednesdays is repealed in 1585. At the same time, there is a general slackening of fish-eating and an increase in the consumption of meat. By the 1590s most wealthy households have dropped the strict Lenten fast and replaced it with a reduced-meat diet. In 1593 the government bows to the inevitable and reduces the punitive £3 fine to £1. Now many households begin to eat meat in Lent and on Fridays and Saturdays, if the head of the household wishes to do so, even though it is still technically against the law. The details from this excerpt support the inference that meat was consumed only by wealthy Elizabethans. many Elizabethans resisted the idea of eating more meat. fish was still a more common staple than meat in Elizabethan diets. Elizabethans’ attitude toward eating meat was becoming more relaxed.
The details from this excerpt support the idea that Elizabethans’ attitude toward eating meat was becoming more relaxed given the fact that wealthy people increased the comsuption of meat in their diets, including during Lent, which is a period of time when people fast as a matter of religious belief; and also since the law that forbade meat intake was repealed, many of the households introduced meat diets to suit the demands.
