Shrove Tuesday, more often called Pancake Day, sits on the threshold between indulgence and restraint. Traditionally observed on the day before Ash Wednesday, it marked the last chance to use up rich ingredients, such as eggs, milk, butter and sugar, before the fasting season of Lent began. Pancakes, simple and adaptable, became the perfect recipe.
Sussex Shrovetide
Shrovetide is an Anglo-Saxon term meaning to confess your sins, and it covers the three days (Sunday, Monday, Tuesday) before Ash Wednesday. On Sunday, you would confess your sins, on Monday, you would eat up your meat, and on Tuesday, you’d use up those rich ingredients like eggs. We may think of pancakes as a modern, even American invention, but they actually date back to at least the early 17th century, if not before. It’s the bacon and maple syrup that came later.
In the old days, after you’d been to church at midday on Shrove Tuesday, you would head off for an afternoon of fun and feasting. It was a public holiday for many and there were Shrove traditions aplenty in Sussex. Street football was common (and in places like Dorking, just over the border in Surrey, that could get quite violent), and other activities included cockfighting and cockthrowing, although, happily, this was largely outlawed by the end of the 18th century. Children would sometimes go from door to door asking for leftover pancakes, and along the coast, skipping was popular with fishermen. After WWII, pancake racing became popular, particularly in places like Bodiam and Battle and it’s not unheard of to see this tradition still alive today.
Shrovetide is also an important time in our calendar too, as it follows hard on the heels of Candlemas and the halfway point between the Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox. If you are out and about, you will see snowdrops, the first daffodils and primroses, and you may also hear a woodpecker at work and see other signs of spring. The mornings and evenings are getting lighter, and nature is definitely beginning to stir.
The best place to eat pancakes
You’ll find pancakes on the menu somewhere in almost all towns in Sussex, but here are a few suggestions, if you’ve decided against a flip and a flop in your own kitchen and want to head out somewhere else.
- In Hastings, they are a little bit more exotic with the Crêperie by the Sea specialising in traditional Breton buckwheat galettes and freshly made sweet crêpes.
- At Washington, pop into Crank’s Café where they have a 4 pancake stack with a great choice of different toppings … and look to for their Pancake Day special.
- In Brighton, we enjoyed pancakes in the North Laines at the Garden Café.
- In Horsham: Trading Post have a buttermilk and French toast menu (think hazelnut and raspberries or bacon, blueberries and maple syrup). Meanwhile The Café at No 4 do a pancake stack.
- In Midhurst: Head to Fitzcanes or to The Fat Fig in Chichester where they serve Greek pancakes with yogurt, fresh figs and pomegranate, and pancakes drizzled with nutella.
- In Haywards Heath, try Gravlax Cafe in the Broadway where they have homemade, gluten free and vegan pancakes with toppings like sweet roast pear, and apple and cinnamon.
- In Battle, try The Chequers Inn where they promise souffle pancakes with a choice of bacon, scrambled egg and maple syrup along with salmon, scrambled egg, or fruit compote, yoghurt and honey.
- In Eastbourne, at Nelson Coffee they have three different pancake stacks with smoked streaky bacon, or chocolate ganache, marmalade, pistachio crumble, cranberry compote, espresso and chocolate custard.
- In Lewes, The Riverside Brasserie has buttermilk pancakes on their menu with mixed berries, clotted cream or bacon and maple syrup.
Lent diets
Come Ash Wednesday, it is time for a period of abstinence which involves not eating meat and fatty foods although fish is still allowed. I’m not sure where fish and chips fits in there! But, whatever you have planned for Shrove Tuesday, make sure you find a little time for fun, football and feasting before you buckle down for Lent and the last few weeks of the winter.
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