Bolding mine. Not correct. Regular Fridays in Lent are days of abstinence (but not fast – meaning no meat but, unlike on Ash Wednesday, no limitation to one small meal and one normal meal, though there is some exhortation not to pig out at any time during Lent [paraphrase].
LOL
I have never heard of this in my whole life!!! Ever!
Nor do solemnities. So look forward to Friday 19 March, the solemnity of St Joseph.
And to further clarify, giving up something unlawful is not really a valid Lenten devotion, since if it’s unlawful, then you should be “giving it up” year-round, not just for a single season. Depending on interpretation, this can even apply to things like smoking, which despite being legal under the civil government, still do no good, only harm. Though I suppose that if giving up smoking for Lent helps you keep off of it after Easter, then that’s a good thing.
It’s my understanding that it’s up to the individual dioceses to decide whether to give an exemption for St. Joseph’s Day (and St. Patrick’s Day, in areas with a large Irish population). They often do, but not always.
At one time, red meat was considered a luxury, and fish was the food of the poor, hence the injunction to avoid red meat in favor of the humble fish during the Lenten season.
Today, of course, fish can be a more expensive and luxurious meal than meat. To be truly consistent, Catholics should avoid both meat and fish on Fridays, and instead eat Kraft mac and cheese.
Or have burritos!
Yum!
I thought it was in the Code of Canon law, and hence not something an individual diocese had any power to change.
All those Catholics eating burritos could exacerbate global warming!
From a piping forum I frequent, I’ve heard that the Archbishop of Boston routinely grants an exemption for S. Patrick’s Day. Just one anecdotal data point…
Shrove Tuesday => Pancakes!
Simple, really. 
I usually go full-vegetarian on Fridays during Lent. I mean, if the in-laws are going to spring for lobster on a Friday, I won’t turn 'em down. But it’s usually pasta or vegetarian Indian food, maybe some hummus. I don’t meat much red meat, some poultry, but mostly I eat fish for protein, so to “make a sacrifice,” I go all-veggie.
There’s another one to add: Dyngus Day Śmigus-dyngus - Wikipedia
Where I grew up (northern IN), this was often used by local politicians as an opportunity to do the shake and greet before the May primary elections.
One final note: “Easter Season” is the 50-day block beginning with Easter Sunday and ending with Pentecost. In churches where this is a big deal, altars are decked in white (often gold-trimmed and with lots of flowers), kneeling is minimized, there is no Old Testament reading, and there is a generally festal air. The subject may not come up, but given the odd collection of fiacts and such being brought forth, I figured it was worth noting.
It doesn’t become a vegetable, but it’s not considered “meat.” “Meat” is restricted to “of mammals, reptiles and birds.”
The catholic church considers beavers to be fish so they can be eaten during lent.
Generally, no. But…
It depends on what motivates your decision. “Screw you, Jesus. I ain’t giving up nothing,” is fairly described as a sinful approach, because your decision to not observe Lent by giving something up is rooted in animus towards Christ.
But a person that simply chooses some other method during the Lenten season to remind himself of Christ’s sacrifice is acting perfectly correctly. For example, we might imagine someone who decides to recite a decade of the Rosary every day of Lent. This is not giving anything up, but it’s an excellent method of focusing one’s attention on the reason for the season, as it were, which is precisely the point of the tradition of giving something up.
Just to contrast this with Judaism, there is in Judaism generally considered no extra benefit in extra devotions. That is, it’s a mitzvah to complete the repetition of the Kedusah in morning minyan. It’s not a mitzvah to stand there all morning and repeat it over and over. A mitzvah is G-d’s command; going beyond G-d’s command does not gain any additional ground.
But for a group of monks in morning prayer, there is a sense that the more prayer, the more spiritual benefit, the more grace, happens.
…but only within marriage and as foreplay to potentially-reproductive intercourse.