A fish fry is a meal containing battered or breaded fried fish. It usually also includes french fries, coleslaw, macaroni salad, lemon slices, tartar sauce, hot sauce, malt vinegar and dessert. Some Native American versions are cooked by coating fish with semolina and egg yolk.
Fish is often served on Friday nights during Lent, the Christian season of repentance, as a restaurant special or through church fundraisers. A fish fry may include potato pancakes (with accompanying side dishes of sour cream or applesauce) and sliced caraway rye bread if served in a German restaurant or area.
A "shore lunch" is traditional in the northern United States and Canada. For decades, outdoor enthusiasts have been cooking their catch on the shores of their favourite lakes.
Fish fries are very common in the Midwestern and northeastern regions of the United States. This is especially true for Christian communities on Fridays during Lent, especially in the Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Anglican and Methodist traditions, when regulations call for abstinence from meat (cf. Friday Fast).