You giving up fries for Lent?

It is said, and rightfully so, that the Catholic Church has been the greatest contributor to Western Civilization; whether it's the Gregorian calendar, or double-digit accounting. (???) You can read more about this in a book by Dr Thomas E Woods Jr entitled How the Catholic Church Built Western Civilization. Indeed, Her influence has been felt in some unique sectors of our culture. To wit...

When I was a kid growing up in Ohio, someone told us that the fish sandwich at McDonald's was invented by some (presumedly Catholic) guy who ran a franchise in the city, and wanted something for his Catholic customers to eat on Fridays. This was back when Friday abstinence was a year-round thing. (And it still is, strictly speaking, but that's another story.) I never saw the tale verified in print, until last Monday.

The Cincinnati Enquirer anticipated the Lenten season for its predominantly Catholic audience, by telling the story of Lou Groen, the man responsible for the filet in question.


Lou Groen opened the area's first McDonald's on North Bend Road in 1959, selling 15-cent hamburgers. In 1962, he added fish. (Photo by Ernest Coleman/The Enquirer)

Groen's restaurant was the Cincinnati area's first McDonald's. His problem: The clientele was heavily Catholic. Back then, most Catholics abstained from meat every Friday, not just during Lent, a 40-day period of repentance that begins this week with Ash Wednesday.

"Frisch's dominated the market, and they had a very good fish sandwich," recalled Groen, now 89.

"I was struggling. The crew was my wife, myself, and a man named George. I did repairs, swept floors, you name it.

"But that area was 87 percent Catholic. On Fridays we only took in about $75 a day," said Groen, a Catholic himself. "All our customers were going to Frisch's.

"So I invented my fish sandwich, developed a special batter, made the tartar sauce and took it to headquarters."

Apparently, he succeeded. In the USA alone, McDonald's buys more than 61 million pounds of fish per year for the sandwich. (The original was halibut, but the corporation went with whitefish, which was cheaper. It's all about the cost per unit, folks.) There are other fun facts in the article. It seems that franchise owner/operators were also responsible for the Big Mac and and Egg McMuffin.

Now you know (whether or not you care about) the rest of the story.

(Tip of the Black Hat to Rich Leonardi of Ten Reasons.)