The Foreign Residents in the TRNC (TFR)

Pancake Day at the Food Lodge in Çatalköy

by Ralph Kratzer

Last Tuesday was Shrove Tuesday aka Pancake Day for our British community members, Faschingsdienstag (Carnival Tuesday) for the Germans.

This day is preceding the Christian Ash Wednesday (the first day of lent) and is celebrated in many countries by consuming pancakes.

The Germans prefer filled donuts on this day.

Of course I wanted to be there when our TFR member Sonja, co-owner of the bakery Food Lodge in Çatalköy and her partner Latifa invited people to their own Pancake Day.

A “Pancake Eating Challenge” was planned, in which anybody could eat for free, should he or she be able to eat 12 American style pancakes with toppings within 15 minutes.

When I arrived around noon time at the famous bakery in Çatalköy some guests were already there, enjoying their pancakes along with a good cup of coffee, but no one had until then faced the challenge.

I was not ready to do it either, because after 12 pancakes I would have needed a very long nap… and there is no hammock available in the nice little cafe next to the bakery (little tip my hand!).

As well on site was my long-time friend Susie Forster, photojournalist from the newspaper Cyprus Today. Together we took a few photos and, of course, also tried the pancakes, which were available in different sizes and with various toppings.

The delicious pancakes tasted excellent to me, so I decided to take some of them home as a take-away.

From Sonja I later learned that about 90 guests came to the Food Lodge on Shrove Tuesday and ate an estimated 200 pancakes.

Only one adult customer stepped up to the challenge, but of the 12 pancakes required, he managed only 8 within 15 minutes.

2 children took part in the mini challenge, and each ate 4 pancakes of the required 6.

Starting from the end of the month, when the evenings will become warmer, Sonja and her partner Latifa plan the next events in the Food Lodge, inter alia a German Evening and other Moroccan Nights, which were already a great success last year.