Small, round, fluffy, and filled with maple syrup, honey, melted chocolate, or served with yogurt, dried fruit, and fresh fruit. Pancakes, a traditional North American breakfast, are famous around the world. In the United Kingdom, they even have their own day, Shrove Tuesday. However, it seems their origins aren't American, as everyone thinks. Let's discover the history of pancakes and a few tricks for making them to perfection.
The Story of an Anglo-Saxon Dessert, That Originated in Greece
"A round cake made of flour, water, and oil, served with honey." Sounds like the American pancake, doesn't it? Yet this definition appears in an ancient Greek document dating back to 500 BC, in which Cratinus and Magnetes, playwrights of the more famous Aristophanes, mention a cake with these characteristics. They called it teganites or tagenites, referring to the pan in which it was cooked, and although the Greek version was unleavened, its shape and consistency suggest it was the very first version of the pancake.
Later assimilated by the Romans and spread throughout Europe, each country began to prepare it in a different way, but it is the Anglo-Saxon version that made it famous to the point of establishing Pancake Day.
Pancake Day
While in the U.S., during the Carnival period, it's customary to prepare King Cake and beignets, in the United Kingdom they make pancakes instead. Nothing strange so far. The curious thing is that, on Shrove Tuesday, it's customary to organize competitions. It's supposed to be about judging which fritter is the tastiest, you might be thinking. But no, because that would be too "normal." Instead, it's a race, complete with a finish line flag, in which the competitors, wearing aprons and chef's hats, must run holding a pan in their hands and, along the way, have the difficult task of flipping the pancakes in the air at least three times. But how did this custom originate?
Where Does The Pancake Race Come From?
The original race dates back to 1434 and is linked to a curious story. It seems that a woman, the day before the beginning of Lent, Shrove Tuesday, was making pancakes at home when she heard the bell ringing, signaling the start of confession. Urged by the urgency of seeking forgiveness for who knows what sin, she ran to the church, but, not having finished her preparations, she left the house with the still-hot pan in her hand, occasionally flipping the sweets in the air to prevent them from burning.
We don't know what the lady had to confess that made her run away from home like that, but what is certain is that even today, several pancake races are held on Shrove Tuesday. The most famous? Certainly the UK Parliamentary Pancake Race, which takes place in Victoria Gardens, between the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben. Contestants include politicians from both Houses of Parliament, wearing chef's hats and aprons, racing with pans in hand, flipping pancakes.
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