Happy Pancake Day!...or should I say 'Shrove Tuesday'?

Flippin' pancakes!

Let’s face it, pancakes don’t really need their own day or the PR - everyone loves pancakes. So why does a whole day need to be devoted towards making and eating pancakes?

The answer lies with the Catholic season of Lent. Pancake Day, also known as Shrove Tuesday, is the day preceding Ash Wednesday. Shrove Tuesday is the last day before Lent, when Catholics observe forty days of prayer and fasting while remembering when Jesus spent forty days and forty nights in the desert before embarking on His public ministry. For many Catholics, this means giving up something precious or a luxury which they enjoy eating, usually something like chocolate, chips, sweets or meat.

Okay, so how does Pancake Day fit into all this? Well, the day before Lent started, it was customary for most people to use up all the ‘luxury’ items in their house (eggs, milk, flour and sugar). It just so happened that pancakes was what they cooked, hence Pancake Day.