Clarifying Butter

Use of Fats in Abrahamic Religion

Oil and fats have been used in rituals as much as cuisine. Religions reflect cultural values, which become traditions that last for hundreds if not thousands of years. The use of fat in cooking for religious purposes holds significance, so much so that in some cultures, the holy oils (i.e., olive oil) are given as gifts. Historically, this would be understood in its generosity, given the amount of labor and worth that it would have had to produce it and the preciousness in time of scarcity.

In other cases, we see the significance of the removal of animal foods and fats, such as in Catholic and Orthodox fasting days, including Lent. Within these days of fasting, the reduction of fat intake is seen as a “reset” of sin, specifically gluttony and the emphasis on earthly pleasures. Whether it be the use or abstention of fats, it is clearly tied to ideas of religion and morality.

Jewish Consumption of Oil during Chanukah

Chanukah (also spelled Hanukkah) celebrates the origin and miracle of escape and survival for Jewish people. It centers on oil  that was meant to last for a single day of use, but which endured an astonishing 8 nights.

Jews celebrate this event by lighting their own candles and cooking foods typically fried in oil. This tradition represents the miracle and further creates social bonds. Jewish cookery that includes traditional recipes for Chanukah foods, includes the fried foods of sufganiyot (jelly filled yeast donuts) and latkes, or pancakes, served with sour cream and apple sauce. Today, the pancakes are made with potatoes, but historically, the base was made with a farmer’s cheese.

Catholic Fasting & Butter Towers

From the early medieval period (5^th-century) to the 1960s (Vactican II), Catholics were expected to abstain from eating meat and dairy products roughly half of the year: Wednesdays, Saturdays, Sundays, all 40 days during Lent, major saint’s days, and the four traditional days when rent would have been paid.

The understanding was that because animals were produced by sexual reproduction, they also “stirred the passions” that led to sinful yearning. While this was less of an issue near the Mediterranean, in northern Europe, dairy & meat products were dearly missed, especially among the aristocracy who had plentiful access to these ingredients. In response, the Catholic church began offering “indulgences,” certificates that could be purchased from a local pardoner. These became so popular that bell towers on many northern cathedrals are called “butter towers” as they were funded entirely by the sales of the indulgences.

“Fat Tuesday” or Shrove Tuesday is the day before Lent begins and pancakes, fried in butter, are often consumed. We also see the battle between Carnival and Lent by Peter Bruegel the Elder, the spiritual battle between earthly pleasures and spiritual devotion.

Muslim Faith and its Use of Olive Oil  

Islamic faith proclaims the holiness of the olive tree, and in that, the holiness of its fruit and its fruit’s oil. Within Islam, many religious texts reference olive oil as a medicinal curative for 70 or more diseases and ailments, and the Prophet Muhammad directly states to his scribes “Eat the oil (of olives) and use it on your hair and skin, for it comes from a blessed tree.”

The teachings of Muhammad have recently been studied in depth, particularly his dietary claims of the curative powers of certain foods, and it has been found that olive oil has cancer-preventing properties, as well as protective against rheumatoid arthritis and early-stage diabetes. The proclamations by Muhammad aided in many ways to advance the cultural and religious significance of olive oil in old Islamic societies and current studies, for instance, proclamations leading to the popularization of olive oil and the use of olive oil as a gifted substance, never as a purchased item, due to its near holy nature (it is denoted in texts as “priceless olive oil,” priceless as in no price).

Alongside the religious context of olive oil in medical use, there dovetails the culinary and cultural use of olive oil, laid out to us in a recipe for “Stewed Anchovies”, stewed in olive oil, documented by the Ottoman Evliya Celebi in his 17^th-century. While travelling through Greece, he frowns that the locals consume olive oil in vast quantities and also drink alcohol (prohibited under Islamic law). To a traditional, practicing Muslim, it was clear that excessive use and subsequent disrespect for olive oil was clearly unholy.