The tradition of celebrating Shrove Tuesday with pancakes started as people tried to use up their eggs, milk and butter before the beginning of Lent. Not as many people fast during Lent these days, but many still mark Shrove Tuesday with a pancake supper. We talked to Becky Field, who is coordinating the pancake supper at St. Matthias Anglican Church, and Vera Ford, a pancake volunteer at St. Thomas Aquinas/Canadian Martyrs Catholic Church, to find out more.
Q: What’s for supper this Shrove Tuesday?
BF: We’ll be serving the traditional plate of two pancakes with a choice of sausage or ham on the side and coffee, tea or juice to drink. For dessert, you can choose between fruit salad or a make-your-own sundae.
VF: We’ll be serving pancakes, served with sausages, orange wedges, real butter and 100 percent pure maple syrup! Dessert trays are provided by our Beaver, Cub and Scout families.
Q: What sets your pancake supper apart from the rest?
BF: Definitely the sundae bar. When we started having a pancake supper, we thought, “No one’s going to want to eat pie for dessert after eating all those pancakes for supper.” We have chocolate sauce, sprinkles…the kids really get a kick out of it, but lots of people eat the fruit salad, too.
VF: Our secret recipe is Vera Schwartz’s mother’s Sourdough Pancakes. Vera and her mom started making pancakes on Shrove Tuesday about 12 years ago when Vera had a son in the Scout movement.
Q: So how many people are you expecting? How many pancakes will you cook?
BF: Typically we’d expect to serve about 70 people, but last year we served 124 people. We’ll probably make about 160 large pancakes.
VF: We are expecting between 150 and 200 people and we’ll make approximately 500 pancakes.
Q: What’s your favourite part of Pancake Day, or a favourite memory?
BF: My favourite part is definitely the fellowship. It’s great to see families there together, and to see everyone working and eating together. And I love sitting down at the end of the night to eat my pancakes with the other volunteers.
VF: One great memory is from a year when I went to the pancake supper with my three very young children but without my husband, who had to work late. I had a very lovely older couple sitting next to me offer to hold and entertain the baby while the children and I ate. I remember thinking, “This is what a community is.”
The pancake supper at St. Matthias, 6131 Chebucto, will be held on Tuesday, February 28, from 5:00-6:30pm, $6 for adults and $3 for children. The supper at St. Thomas Aquinas, 1725 Oxford, will be held on Tuesday, February 28, from 5:00-7:00pm, $6 for adults, $5 for children, $20 for families.
This article appears in Feb 23 – Mar 1, 2006.