I carry no phone An aspiring Luddite In a wired world. Mastodon Verification Link	Jeff Berry is an early adopter of the Internet and the Web, a late adopter of Twitter, and declines to adopt Facebook. With the death of Google+, he migrated to the Fediverse. He admins a medievalist Mastodon instance. He hates cell-phones.

Necessity, it has been said, is a mother. Lent, medieval Lent, with its denial of meat, dairy and eggs, is a rather strict taskmaster, necessity-wise, and as a result, it forces one to invention. So, both the original (unquoted) aphorism and the modern take on it (at the start of this paragraph) are true.

Medieval man knew the harsh conditions of Lent all too well, but being human, tried to moderate them as best he could. Many recipe collections have Lenten variations, often with titles like the one of this article. Medieval "Whatevers in Lent" would often substitute almond milk for milk, water for broth, and sometimes fish for flesh.

I was making Lenten chili, an abomination in the eyes of true chili afficionados since it has no meat, and wanted some cornbread. I had leftover coconut milk from the curry I had made recently. ( Last week's recipe, in fact.) So, driven by necessity, I gave it a shot.

It was some of the best cornbread I've ever made.

• 3/4 cup coconut milk
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup cornmeal
• 3 Tbs sugar
• 1 t baking powder
• about 1/2 cup water

Start by mixing your dry ingredients into your coconut milk. When they are thoroughly blended, begin adding water, bit by bit. You want a thick batter, rather than a dough. It should take about 1/2 cup.

Pour and scrape your batter into baking dish. I used a medium cast iron skillet, perhaps 6". Smooth it down a bit and pop it into the oven for 25 minutes.

Take it out of the oven and test it by sticking a knife or skewer into the middle. If it comes out clean, it's ready, otherwise give it another few minutes and test again.

Turn it out onto a plate and let it cool for a couple of minutes, not too long, though, since it's really good warm. Cut and serve.

This is a sweetish cornbread, which is how I like mine, especially with spicy-hot things like chili. It was moist and firmish, rather than crumbly, which is also a plus in my view. Cut into wedges, it could be dipped in the chili and did't fall apart. This will probably become my standard cornbread recipe in or out of Lent.