March 25, 2013 — Seafood consumption typically increases during Lent in the U.S. But Harry Balzer of the survey firm NPD Group says younger Americans are less likely to follow the tradition.
Over the past 25 years, NPD finds, the number of 18- to 34-year-olds who report eating fish at home during the Lenten season has dropped noticeably — from 66 percent in 1988 to 54 percent in 2012. Among older Americans, however, consumption remains steady. The data come from a survey that tracks the eating and drinking trends of a representative sample of households in the U.S.
So does this mean that young Catholics are being less observant of the church's rule about abstaining from meat on Fridays? It's not clear.
The data sorted respondents by age but not religion — so we can't know which ones were Catholic. But presumably, Balzer says, Catholics are the driving force behind the annual increase in fish consumption in the U.S. during Lenten months.
Read the full story at NPR affiliate WMHT