Pancake Penance

I missed Pancake Day on Tuesday [March 4th]. I missed it because I didn’t know it was synonymous with Shrove Tuesday, the last day for many to party down before they begin six weeks of self-denial (Lent) on Ash Wednesday (which is probably what the inside of your mouth feels like, ash that is, after going wild the night before). Missing Pancake Day is a sad admission from someone who has received pancake griddles for birthday presents on more than one occasion (beginning with one from my grandfather when I was twelve or so), someone who loves to try out crazy recipes like pancakes made with granola and smothered in whiskey bacon maple syrup. But miss it I did.

Shrove Tuesday equals Pancake Day because making pancakes was a good way to use up rich foods like eggs, milk, and sugar before the fasting got started. It is still celebrated in many places, particularly in Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. In fact, the UK is famous for pancake races. As Wikipedia notes,

the most famous pancake race, at Olney in Buckinghamshire, has been held since 1445. The contestants, traditionally women, carry a frying pan and race over a 415 yard course to the finishing line. The rules are strict: contestants have to toss their pancake at both the start and the finish, as well as wear an apron and a scarf. Traditionally, when men want to participate, they must dress up as a housewife (usually an apron and a bandanna).

I can’t believe that I, the prince of pancakes, have been missing all of this. I have to pay better attention.

As odd as eating pancakes on Shrove Tuesday may seem, they are not the strangest things people ingest on this occasion:

In Estonia they eat pea soup and whipped cream.

In Iceland they eat salted meat and peas.

In Lithuania they eat donuts called spurgos.

In Sweden, they eat semla (yum!).

On Madeira, they eat malasada (double yum!)

In short, it seems humans try to do in one day what bears do over the entire spring, summer, and fall: store up enough calories to make it through the lean times ahead. This is not at all surprising, given our widespread predilection for doing things last minute.

I think Key West needs to start a Pancake Day tradition complete with men and women in aprons running madly with skillets in hand. It would have to be the Conch Cake Chase, of course. Stay tuned for details and get your application in early. I have a feeling they will be serving whisky bacon maple syrup at all the refreshment stations.

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Visit Kim Pederson’s blog RatBlurt: Mostly Random Short-Attention-Span Musings