Do you know these Pancake Day facts?

Take a look…

Shrove Tuesday is now traditionally known as Pancake Day where we feast. Shrove Tuesday falls the day before Ash Wednesday, which is the first day of Lent.  Originally the idea was to use up all the household foods such as, sugar, milk and eggs. Over the 40 day period of Lent people are not to eat foods that give pleasure, meat, eggs, and dairy.  This is how pancake day began.

Shrove Tuesday is exactly 47 days before Easter Sunday, this date moves depending on when Easter Sunday falls.

Check out these facts below:

· Today the average person will eat two pancakes. This roughly works out as approximately 117m pancakes getting eaten in just one day.  This would also take 93 olympic sized swimming pools of milk to be filled and 13m kilos of flour.

· Today an average of 52m eggs will be used. That is approximately 22m more than any other day. 

· Since 1445 in Buckinghamshire there has been a pancake race held every year.  Women race 415 yards tossing their pancakes in their frying pans from the start to the finish line. They are dressed wearing an apron and scarf. Men can also race, if they wear the same dress.

· Shrove Tuesday can fall on any day between February 3 and March 9.

· The first pancake ready mix was made in 1889 in Missouri and was called Aunt Jemima pancake flour.

· The largest made pancake was a staggering 15 meters and weighed 3 tonnes.

Around the world…

· In German-American populations Shrove Tuesday is also known as Fastnacht Day.

· Polish communities in the US Pancake Day is known as Paczki Day and people eat a pastry called paczki.

· In France Mardi Gras is known as Fat Tuesday. It is also tradition to eat all rich foods prior to Lent, on Ash Wednesday.

· In Finland, they eat pea soup and pastries for pancake day.

· Icelanders eat salty meat with peas.

· In Italy pancake day is called Carnivale, which is Latin for, goodbye to the flesh.