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The Impact of a Tiny Country Church Fish Fry Is Immeasurable

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The Impact of a Tiny Country Church Fish Fry Is Immeasurable
Fried fish is prepared at the Swissvale Fire Department fish fry in Pittsburgh, Pa., on Feb. 24, 2023. Fish fries have been a longtime Catholic tradition in Western Pennsylvania but increased in popularity in 1966 after the Second Vatican Council announced that not eating meat on Fridays was optional, except during Lent. Today they are held anywhere, from churches to fire stations to restaurants. Jessie Wardarski/AP Photo
Salena Zito
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PROSPERITY, Pennsylvania—If you make a fish fry dinner, people will come for miles around. They will even cross several state lines to get to your church basement if the fish sandwich is fresh and spilling out of both sides of the bun, the macaroni and cheese is homemade with just enough crisp on top, and the coleslaw is crunchy and tangy.

Salena Zito
Salena Zito
Author
Salena Zito has held a long, successful career as a national political reporter. Since 1992, she has interviewed every U.S. president and vice president, as well as top leaders in Washington, including secretaries of state, speakers of the House and U.S. Central Command generals. Her passion, though, is interviewing thousands of people across the country. She reaches the Everyman and Everywoman through the lost art of shoe-leather journalism, having traveled along the back roads of 49 states.
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