Lenten thoughts

though they really aren't, as I was wracking my brain for a few weeks prior to Lent, trying to think of something meaningful to give up, but by the time Fat Tuesday came around, the one thing I had thought of was actually going to be difficult to implement, so now I didn't actually give anything up for Lent.
However, I'll do it next year. I had thought of giving up eating out for the whole season of Lent. The only reason why I didn't was because I had some dinner and lunch meetings booked in the upcoming weeks that I couldn't break, so I had already trespassed against Lent before it began!
Admittedly, with a significant amount of disposable income and living in a city with a significant wealth and diversity of cuisines, it's very difficult to give up the idea of restaurants and food services. However, I think I, like many of my peers, spend an inordinate amount of money on food outside the home. For me, I find that even more profoundly ironic with my fruit and veg box and my commitment to local producers and vendors. It's certainly not a cost thing: certainly, I likely spend close to the same amount in restaurants monthly as I do on food consumed in the home, but, as opposed to the majority of Torontonians, this doesn't affect my own food security.
It is, however, a justice thing. When we are called as people to temper our appetites (of all sorts), to snuff out greed and selfishness, then I find the over-abundant expenditures on food outside the home fairly unjustifiable. It's a tough balance: many chefs I know are talented, hard-working people, who deserve the accolades and fair compensation for what they do. However, it still remains a luxury for most of the people in our city. And so that's where I remain: You would think it would be easy to give up restaurant food for 47 days, but it's not as pragmatically easy as one realizes...