#21 Fish Sandwiches

Many Pittsburghers are Catholic, which leaves them with annual difficult decision of what to give up for Lent.  The Church suggests that Catholics should go forty days without the one thing they enjoy most, but this puts Pittsburghers in a pickle. See, Pittsburghers love fish sandwiches most, but all the parish fish fries are during Lent due to meatless Fridays. (Catholic Dogma can create some tricky catch-22s.)  This forces Pittsburghers to give up less important things for Lent, like chocolate or paying child support.

Make no mistake, Pittsburghers like fish sandwiches all year round, and not all fish sandwich lovers are Catholic.  In fact, most Pittsburgher fish-sandwich-aficionados only like them because it’s fun to say.  Pittsburghers like pronouncing it fis-samich.

Either way, all Pittsburghers like fish fries—Jew, Gentile, rare Cleveland fan.  Right below gambling carnivals, fish fries are the second most anticipated church event.  Imagine four hundred Pittsburghers sitting on folding chairs, eating low-grade cod on soggy buns atop coleslaw, while getting drunk and playfully harassing waitresses. This is the Pittsburgh church experience. Fish fry is to Pittsburgh as night club is to Miami.  Similarly, Miami and Pittsburgh both have an epidemic amount of elderly people, which explains why fish fries begin serving dinner at 4 pm.