Lent and fasting spices
Spices tied to fasting seasons: mahleb and mastic in Greek Easter bread, rock salt and cumin in Hindu vrat food.
Also: fasting foods, Lenten spice, vrat spices, sendhav, hot cross buns
Fasting seasons reshape the spice cabinet. Orthodox Christians in Greece bake tsoureki for Easter, scented with mahleb and mastic; English Good Friday buns are marked with a cross and spiced with cinnamon, allspice and currants; Ethiopian fasting dishes use berbere without animal products. In Hindu vrat fasts such as Navratri, cooks use rock salt, sendha namak, in place of table salt, and spices such as cumin, black pepper, green chilli, and ginger, avoiding grains and often onion and garlic, so recipes rely on potatoes, buckwheat and water chestnut flour. Ramadan, Lent and Navratri each have their own table traditions, which vary by family.