Laudator Temporis Acti

Augustine, Sermons 207.2 (Patrologia Latina, vol. 38, cols. 1043-1044; tr. Edmund Hill):

To avoid letting these persuasive suggestions creep up on you, brothers and sisters, be as watchful and prudent as you possibly can. Let your fasting be accompanied by frugality. Just as the cramming of the stomach is to be restrained, so the tickling of the palate is to be avoided. It isn't that some kinds of human food are to be regarded as unclean, but that the delights of the flesh are to be held in check. Esau wasn't rejected over Wiener schnitzel or pâté de foie gras, but for an inordinate longing for lentils. Holy David repented of having a greater desire for water than was just. So the body is to be refreshed, or rather supported in its fasting, not by elaborate and expensive dishes, but by any kind of cheaper food that is readily available.

Haec, fratres, ne vobis persuasa subrepant, quanta potestis vigilantia providete. Parcimonia ieiuniis coniungatur. Sicut ventris castiganda saturitas, ita gulae irritamenta cavenda sunt. Non humanorum alimentorum genera detestanda, sed carnalis est delectatio refrenanda. Esau non pingui vitulo vel volatilibus saginatis, sed immoderate concupita lenticula reprobatus est. Sanctum David aquam plus iusto desiderasse poenituit. Non operosis ergo neque pretiosis, sed in promptu et positis quibusque vilioribus alimentis est corpus a ieiunio reficiendum, vel potius fulciendum.