In 18th century Malta, eating chocolate during lent was not considered breaking your fast

When it comes to sacrifices during lent, keeping an arm's length away from anything considered sweet must definitely be the most common one of our contemporary times in Malta.

In acts of penitence, you come across friends declining a slice of their own birthday cake and skipping dessert.

However, despite this connection between lent and lack of sugar, on Good Friday, (perhaps the day where sacrifice is expected the most), stalls selling Karamelli tal-Harrub are still sprinkled around villages and towns where Good Friday celebrations are held.

The sweets, which have half their weight constructed out of sugar, stand tall and firm deeply rooted in Maltese Lenten tradition, where sugar was eaten because it was not a meat product. In fact, avoiding sweets as an act of penitence is fairly recent in the history of our culture; dating back merely a century or two.

For a long time, abstaining from indulging in sexual activity and eating meat were instructed by the church as sacrifices during the forty days, explained academic Simon Mercieca, who researched the topic excessively. Meat was associated with hot body fluids and sexual arousal, and therefore the former was therefore discouraged.

"Everything which was derived from animals, was not eaten during lent," he said, listing eggs as one of such foods. The only exception which would have been permissible was consuming a meal containing meat, such as chicken broth, for medical when falling ill.

According to Mercieca, in the 18th century, a debate within the Catholic Church took place as to whether chocolate and sugar should be eaten during Lent. Guseppe Demarco, a well-known doctor from Cospicua, published a study during that period, titled 'About The Use and Abuse of Chocolate in Medicine and Morality'. Demarco's study concluded that one is able to eat chocolate and sugar during lent, since they are products made from vegetables.

"It is something as recent as the 19th or 20th century that sugar was considered as breaking the period of fasting," said Mercieca. The change came about when sweets started to be considered as a treat for children, a food which connotes enjoyment, especially during times of poverty and scarcity when such products were seen as a luxury. The context of lent provided that such enjoyments are negated.

Similarily, decades ago, the Qagħaq tal-Appostli was an oriental honey ring, made out of almonds, almond flour and probably even sugar, Mercieca explained. The Qagħaq tal-Appostli could be linked to Lebanese or Syrian Christians. Most probably, this custom was introduced thanks to the presence of Oriental Christians in Malta.

"Today, the only tradition that remained out of all this is that there are four or five almonds on the surface of the bread," he said. "It is no longer considered a type of sweet bread, but if you look into the history of the food item, it was definitely considered as sweet bread during that period."

Historical research done by Mercieca shows that the Apostles' bread used to be made in the form of a ring and was braided, which, constructed out of three rolls of pastry for religious significance, was braided. Honey or sugar and ground almonds were used in the recipe, ingredients which have changed over time as societal influences also shifted these trends.

 

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