In period of fasting, the Italian ate high-protein pulse? (6)
I believe the answer is:
lentil
'high-protein pulse?' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'in period of fasting the italian ate' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'period' could be 'lent' (Lent is an example) and 'lent' is located in the answer.
'italian' could be 'i' (abbreviation for Italian) and 'i' is located in the answer.
A single letter 'l' remains which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for lentil that I've seen before include "Pulse for soup etc" , "Round flat seed" , "Vegetarian food" , "Pulse used in soup" , "High-protein pulse" .)