So for the day that’s in it a deep dive into why one’s a pancake and the other’s crepe.
The infantile smirking of English-speaking schoolboys at the similarities between human refuse and the continental delicacy aside it’s worth restating.
That pancakes are made with a leavening/raising agent such as baking powder while crepes do not.
Crepes are traditionally made with buckwheat flour.
All of which is just a roundabout way of flagging up this old dosser’s favourite pancake places and the crepe de la crepe of their near cousins.
Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah
My, oh my, what a beautiful day that was, and is, in the Disney Four Seasons Resort Hotel in Orlando.
When Mickey, Minnie and Goofy bounce into breakfast.
And greet you over the top of the mountain of pancakes you are scaling.
And for snow effects you can go for icing sugar.
I prefer an avalanche of golden lava syrup.
Pancakes on the sea
Flippin ‘eck, those cruise holiday buffets with Celebrity Cruises off Florida.
And the racks of pancakes you just can’t pass over.
Even if you have just hoovered up every cut of meat brought onto the ark.
And don’t be fooled by the fruit in the picture… that’s just for show.
A Dutch too much
Now the Amsterdammers often have a special ingredient which lifts their crepes, and you, to a higher plane.
I don’t know what they had on theirs that freezing November day when the-then Miss F took me on a magical mystery tour.
After we found ourselves at a fork in the road and took the long way to Edam only to find it was their half day.
I reckon though I had cheese though maybe it was the sprinkles that made it a high old time in Old Amsterdam.
Nutty about Nutella
And for many the go-to spread for a crepe is Nutella but did you know that it is from Alba in Piedmont in the north of Italy.
It is, of course, a hazelnut spread but it also has 20 per cent palm oil.
You’re never far from either in Italy particularly when you’re hiking through the Lazio region on your way to Rome.
On your Via Francigena pilgrimage and you get stuck in an olive grove looking for small sticker signposts to La Citta Eterna.
Pancakes and crepes
So today being Shrove Tuesday, it is of course about pancakes.
Because that was the day back when we were all holier that you used up your eggs, milk, and sugar before your Lenten fast.
And around the world people will be munching, flipping, racing, getting dressed up and dancing (Mardi Gras in New Orleans).
I can’t vouch how good crepes are for flipping or racing but they are celebrated too on February.
La Chandeleur
By the French (you didn’t think we’d get through this without them).
National Crepe Day, or La Chandeleur, is a celebration that originated in the Land of the Gauls.
And it also originated in the Catholic church, landing exactly 40 days after the celebration of Christmas.
So yes, we are celebrating Pancake Tuesday today, but a word too for the not-so-humble crepe.
Yes, one’s a pancake and the other’s crepe.
