Step 1: Think!
This strand deals with the different types of food practices and restrictions in the different religions, as well as with the concepts of punishment and reward according to how one lives his or her life.

Read the note about food practices and restrictions in Christianity
The observance of prescribed days of fasting was formerly strict also in many Christian religions but has lost its importance for most Christians today. Those who do fast still abstain from eating meat occasionally, usually during the period of Lent leading up to Easter, especially Good Friday (the day remembering Christ’s death).
The general purpose of fasting in religions is to create the best condition for prayer, for the individual and the collective; in other words to be in a condition to communicate with their God without the distraction of physical needs or demands. As a form of self-denial it is also an important self-discipline intended to lead the worshipper to realise that material comforts and the needs of the body in general, are inferior to and unimportant compared with the needs of the spirit or soul.
The rules about which meat it is permissible to eat and how, are related to the ongoing pursuit of spiritual and physical health required to live well in this life and to prepare one’s soul for the next. In all religions human life is regarded as temporary, merely a short interlude, a preparation for a superior state of being than the material and worldly, namely the enjoyment of an eternal life and happiness to follow death to follow in the company of the Creator in heaven as one’s reward for living a good life according with the Creator’s wishes. For the believer, all these beliefs condition the way one lives one’s life and what one’s moral choices are.
In all religions the condition of living in sin, where one has displeased, disobeyed, or in some way offended one’s Creator, deprives one’s of the right to that enjoyment and condemns one to eternal punishment in hell. For the believer, in short, the main way of living a morally good life is to obey and please one’s Creator, to do what is right is to obey God’s will as it is defined in one’s religion, and thereby to win heaven. To act immorally is to offend against one’s God (to commit sin) and against one’s fellow human beings.

Step 2:
Conduct some research on Lent and the different traditions regarding food in Malta and another country. Write down notes you find interesting.

Concluding activity
Prepare a chart showing your findings. As additional activities there are also two handouts in resources.