When you live in a country other than your home country, you tend to pick up the traditions of your host country. Pancake Day is one of those fun traditions that Leon and I get into every year. Who doesn’t like pancakes? We usually have pancakes every couple of weeks for Sunday lunch, so we enjoy them!
Shrove Tuesday (Fat Tuesday or Mardi Gras in the US) is the day before Lent starts on Ash Wednesday. The tradition behind it is to get rid of all the fatty foods you have in your house before going on a fast for Lent. There are a few other aspects to Shrove Tuesday, but in the UK, that comes in the form of Pancake Day.
Since Leon and I rather enjoy pancakes, we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to let others in on the pancake fun, too. We had our church home group around for Pancake Day last week!
We served two different types of pancakes: American-style pancakes and crepes. When served, these pancakes aren’t necessarily topped with the traditional American butter and maple syrup. A favourite topping here is lemon juice and sugar. We also had a number of spreads like peanut butter and jam. There certainly was no shortage of sugar in our home! :)
So are you familiar with the Pancake Day race in Olney? I’ve known about that for almost as long as I can remember. Liberal, Kansas (halfway between my current home and my growing up home) also does a Pancake Day race and then they compare times with Olney to see who won for the year. I’ve always wanted to be there for the race, but do have friends who are VERY involved with festivities.
I’ve not heard of it, but I just googled it. Wow, that’s some serious pancake flipping! In the past, we’ve had pancake races at the OM office that have been pretty fun.