Today is Shrove Tuesday. The day where people come together and stuff their faces with pancakes; it’s also perfectly acceptable to have a flattened pancake stuck on the ceiling!
The name Shrove Tuesday comes from the word shrive meaning absolution for sins by way of confession. It was typically a Christian celebration that precedes Ash Wednesday, where Christians go to confession and admit sins to the priest and then a bell would be rung - the pancake bell!
In America it’s called Mardi Gras which literally means Fat Tuesday because we use up all the ‘fatty’ foods before Lent - the time when people nowadays try to be good by giving up some foods - such as eggs, flour, ice cream, and sugar!
Eggs, milk and sugar aren’t typically eaten during lent and so people traditionally threw them out of the house to avoid temptation.
Whilst the tradition of eating pancakes is quite old, the same goes for the tossing of them:
“And every man and maide doe take their turne, And tosse their pancakes up for feare they burne” - Pasquil’s Palin 1619.
But with the addition of new foods, the toppings people use on their pancakes vary.
Here are some top 5 toppings:
Lemon and sugar
Chocolate spread
Vanilla ice cream
Maple syrup
Fruits - bananas, blueberries and much more!
What are your favourite pancake toppings?
Enjoy!
Until next time...
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