Well, there's no *fasting* during the Easter Octave under any traditional practice that I am aware of. In traditional practice, Easter Friday was a day of *abstinence* because it was not a day of precept. However, that law of abstinence has changed to broaden the exclusion to solemnities in general, of which Easter Friday is ranked as one along with the rest of the days of the week. (Taking the omission of the Creed and second reading during Easter Week as an indication it's not a solemnity is not a persuasive argument; it merely means that the Creed is not essential to the definition of a solemnity.)

Never quite sure why people get worried about this. They are free to abstain if they wish; if others in good conscience with sufficient basis do not abstain, what's it to them?

Btw, the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart is another example.

Christmas week and Easter week require neither fasting nor abstinence. Every day this week is Easter!
(and I do abstain from meat on all regular Fridays of the year)

Yes the 1983 ranking is a bit unique. It used to be semidouble, but it was still a specially privileged octave. That’s why Annunciation is moved out of both Holy Week and the octave. Now it is a solemnity according to the GIRM and canon law. Since canon law trumps, even in places following 1939 (and there are some) I would relax abstinence, and I would make note of it were I the pastor.

The Pentecost Ember Days throw this off, since they are I class in 1962, but penitential, though less so than the other three. Precious Blood does as well, since it is put together with Corpus Domini, and St. Joseph the Worker was rightfully demoted, though unfortunately not moved, so it is double of the 1st class/1c in one calendar but not a solemnity. I am not familiar enough with the 1917 code (and prior law), but since not only are we on the 1983 code, there is something apt about expanding abstinence exceptions. Sts. John the Baptist & Peter and Paul, whichever is on Friday potentially, come to mind.

@tomjaw will probably chime in under me (so I’ll prompt him!) because it is of import for those where abstinence is still mandatory. Of course if the Friday of the Christmas Octave is treated as a solemnity by the English bishops, when it is always the lesser of the two Fridays (of the Easter and Christmas octaves), then I see no reason to abstain under any obligation.

It’s just crazy complicated.

It probably helps, actually.

About fish.
I always wondered how red snapper and other piscene delicacies counted as fast or abstinence. I've seen (and eaten) fish that was far more a treat, and far less a sacrifice, than a Salisbury steak would have been - or even a nice juicy hamburger.

...all animals with spines...

Well, that sort of rules out cannibalism, doesn't it - at least with a lot of people I could think of.

From the old (1910) Catholic Encyclopedia, some helpful background:

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01067a.htm

In historical reality, the ascetic practices required of the faithful were partly derived and modified from those developed by monastics (you can even see this with the length of Lent, too), and the monastic cultures of West and East were different.

Well, that sort of rules out cannibalism, doesn't it - at least with a lot of people I could think of.

It means you could eat a number of the hierarchy without breaking the fast.

Fridays, even in Lent...

Isn't the rule in the US just Ash Wednesday and Good Friday? Pretty sure...
(While I do believe that this used to be the case, it isn't right now.)

Kind of like how the fasting is just 1 hour before Mass, but those of us raised on the TLM do the 3-hour fast.

I would say so. Eastern monks who follow the strict rule of St. Basil can’t eat fish. Mt. Athos does though. Norcia is vegetarian, af least during Lent.

Because only one Friday of Paschaltide is actually exempted from abstinence...