Clean Monday
Clean Monday is a public holiday in Greece and Cyprus, where it is celebrated with outdoor excursions, the consumption of shellfish and other fasting food, a special kind of azyme bread, baked only on that day, named "lagana" () and the widespread custom of flying kites. Eating meat, eggs and dairy products is traditionally forbidden to Orthodox Christians throughout Lent, with fish being eaten only on major feast days, but shellfish is permitted in European denominations. This has created the tradition of eating elaborate dishes based on seafood (shellfish, molluscs, fish roe etc.). Traditionally, it is considered to mark the beginning of the spring season, a notion which was used symbolically in Ivan Bunin's critically acclaimed story, "Pure Monday".
Saraswat cuisine
Most Saraswat Brahmins are pesco-vegetarians. The inclusion of fish in the diet is not looked upon as non-vegetarian. Legend has it that when the Saraswati River dried up, the Saraswats who could not farm were permitted to eat sea food/fish. The fish were euphemistically called "sea vegetable" or झळकें from ( जल काय -Jal Kaay). Oysters, for example, are sometimes called "samudra phalam", or "sea fruit".