You didn't forget that it's Pancake Day did you? But have you ever wondered why we celebrate Pancake Day at all? It's fascinating, and there are some lessons to be learned! On top of that, we've tossed in a pancake recipe to make it all the easier for you...
Pancake Day (also known as Shrove Tuesday) is the traditional feast day before the start of the season of Lent on the Anglo-Christian Calendar.
Now since Lent was a time of fasting, Shrove Tuesday was the last chance to use up eggs and fats before embarking on the fast and what better way to use up eggs and fats than in … you guessed it… pancakes!
This brings up the obvious link to food safety - long before we had best before dates, this tradition shows that people knew that food needed to be eaten while it was fresh. But there is another link which we found interesting, and that is the principle of reducing food waste!
You may not know it, but food waste is a growing concern, not just in South Africa, but globally! According to the FAO about one third of the food produced in the world for human consumption every year gets lost or wasted. That’s in the region of 1.3 billion tonnes of food!
There are many reasons for the volume of food waste - much of it occurs after harvest, during processing, or even at retail level. But some food waste happens at consumer level – a result of food that goes off in the fridge and is thrown away, of cooking more than you can eat, buying more than you need, choosing not to eat food because it has blemishes or bruises - all of these contribute to global food waste.
Addressing food waste is a way that everyday people can make a difference to food security – and we would like to encourage you to do that today – starting by using up your eggs and milk to make some delicious pancakes!!
Pancake Recipe
- Place 125g of plain flour and 1 pinch of sea salt into a large bowl.
- Crack in 3 large free-range eggs and pour in 250ml of milk.
- Whisk well until you get a smooth batter, or alternatively blitz it all in a liquidiser. ...
- Place a large non-stick frying pan on a medium heat. ...
- Pour in 1 ladle of the batter.
- Lift the pan off of the heat and tilt it so that the batter spreads all over the base
- Place the pan back on the heat for 1 to 2 minutes, or until the batter starts to come away from the sides and you can remove it easily from the pan
- Once golden underneath, flip the crêpe over and cook for a further minute until cooked through
References
http://www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/Pancake-Day/
http://www.new-training.co.uk/blog/?p=28
http://www.fao.org/save-food/resources/keyfindings/en/
http://www.jamieoliver.com/news-and-features/features/how-to-make-perfect-pancakes/
