The Lenten journey is a bit deeper than our favorite meatless recipes

If the Impossible Burger tastes just like the real thing, what exactly are you "giving up"?

Lent.

The 40 days before Easter when the emphasis is on prayer, fasting and almsgiving.

A great time for self-reflection and renewal, and also a time in our own small way to help make the world a better place for all of God's children.

Don't worry, this will not become political.

Lent moves around a bit, but this year it began on Ash Wednesday, March 5.

Several years ago at the beginning of Lent I wrote in The Davis Enterprise about an article I had seen in The Oregonian, a great newspaper out of my hometown of Portland, concerning this treasured Christian observance.

Lent was the time when Jesus, to use the language of today, was sheltering in place in the desert, observing an extreme form of social distancing.

The Oregonian had caught my attention with a story titled: “8 meatless dishes that are perfect for observing Lent.”

That caused me to comment, “Given that observing Lent frequently involves giving up one’s favorite dishes, I was curious to see what, exactly, The Oregonian felt I should be eating during this 40-day period leading up to Easter."

What followed in The Oregonian were recipes for all sorts of wonderful dishes that would presumably make you forget they didn’t contain meat.

This was a few years before the market had been flooded with Beyond Burgers and the Impossible Whopper and all sorts of products that are specifically designed to trick the palate.

Still, I’m not convinced that abstaining from meat on certain days in Lent means I should become a regular at Burger King or spend my Friday nights ordering the all-you-can-eat shrimp scampi at Red Lobster.