Vegan Shriving

I'm taking a break from the arduousness of trying to find The Truth in internet information to share about my pancake breakfast.

It's Shrove Tuesday today. Not being entirely familiar with the historical significance of Shrove Tuesday (beyond it being as good a reason as any to eat pancakes), I turned to Wikipedia and was delighted to find that shrove is the past tense of the English verb shrive, which means to obtain absolution for one's sins by way of confession and doing penance. For practicing Christians, the idea is to get yourself absolved before Lent begins on Ash Wednesday. Fabulous! What better way to obtain final absolution from my egg incident in Rome than to make egg-free pancakes.

And what is the significance of pancakes on Shrove Tuesday?

"Pancakes and doughnuts are associated with the day preceding Lent because they were a way to use up rich foodstuffs such as eggs, milk, and sugar, before the fasting season of the 40 days of Lent. The liturgical fasting emphasized eating plainer food and refraining from food that would give pleasure: in many cultures, this means no meat, dairy, or eggs."

Aha. So, since we practicing vegans are in a state of permanently denied pleasure and are thus one step ahead of the game, Shrove Tuesday really is just a good reason to eat pancakes.

I fished around online until I found a recipe that I had all the ingredients for, and with much fanfare in the kitchen at 6am this morning, made a batch of truly beautiful vegan pancakes. With the right amount of banging pots and use of the high-speed setting on the blender, I successfully woke Michael up and we shared pancakes and coffee together as the sun came up on a beautiful day.

The recipe:

• 1 cup flour (I used buckwheat)
• 1T baking powder
• 1/4t salt
• 1 cup water (soymilk if you want, but I just used water)
• 1/2t oil
• 1/2t maple syrup

Mix it all together. Pour 1/4 cup at a time into the pan on medium heat. When it is bubbling and dry on the edges flip over and brown the other side. Smother in maple syrup and eat with loved ones before heading out for a 10km run and a 2km swim.

Since I've reproduced the recipe here, it is not a candidate for February's recipe of the month (that's a rule I just made up, of course), but I wanted to include it in today's posting in case any readers on the other side of the Atlantic are waking up and feel inspired to start their Lent a day early, without missing the fun of pancake-making. You closet vegans know who you are.