Today is Shrove Tuesday which, as well as being a significant day in the Christian calendar, means that at some point we’re going to be scoffing pancakes dusted with sugar and drenched in lemon (other toppings are available).

What is Shrove Tuesday?

Well it’s nothing to do with Black Friday, which is just an orgy of ugly consumerism, or Manic Monday, which is a song Prince wrote and gifted to The Bangles. Instead Shrove Tuesday is the day before Ash Wednesday, which is traditionally a day of prayer and fasting in most Christian denominations. Another way to put it is that Shrove Tuesday marks the end of Shrovetide, which starts on the ninth Sunday before Easter (April 4 this year) and ushers in Lent, which runs for about six weeks and takes us up to Easter Sunday itself. If you’re religious, you may follow some or all of the traditional observances associated with the day. If you’re not, the chances are you’ll just make do with eating lots and lots of pancakes.

Why pancakes?

Lent is a time of sacrifice, so of course the culinary emphasis necessarily goes on to simpler foods, a category that does not include pancakes. That it turns means that supplies of foods traditionally thought of as luxuries – eggs, milk, flour, sugar and the like – are used up before Lent starts in a glut of (you guessed it) pancakes. Which is why Shrove Tuesday is also known as Pancake Day.

Good luck even finding eggs and flour …

Indeed. Such was the enthusiasm with which the great British public devoted itself to baking during Lockdown #1 and Lockdown #2 that these items became quite difficult to come by. Even egg boxes became rarer than hen’s teeth, due to a shortage of cardboard. In short, we have all been stuffing our faces with cakes, biscuits, sweet treats and, yes, pancakes, for almost a year now which means today’s pancake-fest is just going to feel like business as usual in most British households. And if eating pancakes today is intended as a gesture towards giving up those foods, forget it: with Lockdown #2 still very much with us, it’s unlikely that sales of eggs, flour, sugar, biscuits and cakes will dip any time soon. Conversely, the things most ordinary people might give up for Lent – going to the pub or going for a curry or (perish the thought) doing both in the same evening – are exactly the things ordinary people haven’t really been able to during Shrovetide. Or any other recent -tide, including Yuletide. Still, at least we’re not in New Orleans or Rio de Janeiro …

What’s happening there?

Nothing, that’s the point. Those cities’ famous Mardi Gras celebrations have been cancelled due to the pandemic, and of course Mardi Gras translates from the French as Fat Tuesday, which of course ties in with Shrove Tuesday. All they can do is stay at home and eat pancakes.

Talking of which, is Nutella allowed as a topping?

Anything goes, as Cole Porter once said.