Why catholics don't eat meat on Fridays?

In the U.S., Catholics are obliged to abstain from meat on Fridays only during Lent.  While not all Catholics practice this, my understanding is that many Catholics still do.

According to a recent article in Pittsburgh Catholic, "Fasting and abstinence gives Catholics an opportunity to slow down and draw nourishment from a different source. As acts of penance, fasting and abstinence help us acknowledge the sin in our lives."  (You can read the full article on this page.)

 As a Recovered Catholic I still resent all those meatless Fridays. In school they served some awful dry white fish, bloody and unbreaded. I usually made do with a peanut butter & honey sandwich.

 At home we usually had fish sticks, which were OK. Mac & Cheese and meatless spaghetti were other Friday staples.

The thing is: there was no SIN involved. Officially it was all voluntary - but for some reason everyone seemed to think it was a matter of faith and morals. We figured, eat a burger, go to hell. No wonder I turned atheist in my teen years! I'd never make it as a vegan.

the answer is quite simply it goes back to emperor constaine  basically there wasa meat shortage on a friday and thats why meat wasnt available  and fish was . so it became a myth and legend about it .

It is not only Catholics that do not eat meat on Fridays but also Eastern Orthodox religions such as Greek Orthodox; Russian Orthodox and others.  Until the invention of refrigeration meat was not consumed that often and usually eaten during a major feast in someone’s life i.e. the birth of a child, a wedding and other events.  Because Christians remember the death of Christ which took place on a Friday they do not feast rather they fast, from meat.  Also, Eastern Orthodox do not eat meat on Wednesday because the remember the betrayal of Christ which took place on a Wednesday.  I hope this helps.

because they  dont belive eatin it on friday because back in 1800s most of the cathics dident belive eatin meat then later they pick a day to not eat meat  in the cathic pick who u hang with in u tell a person your proublams so cathlic are really relguim that make them that way

You can get a long list of very thoughtful and accurate answers if you type "why don't catholics eat meat on friday" into Google. Sorry folks here, none of your answers here really do the question justice. :o)