Merry Mardi Gras to all! The streets of Paris are covered with masked school children and the smell of crepes. Fat Tuesday, sometimes known as Shrove Tuesday, is the last day of Carnival before Ash Wednesday and Lent begins.
Where as back in the United States some folks use Mardi Gras as an excuse to take off their clothes and down Hurricanes, here in Paris the festivities are a bit more PG. A day typically celebrated by kids, on Fat Tuesday Parisians schools look a bit like their American counterparts on Halloween. On my way to class this morning, I was lucky enough to catch a glimpse of a gremlin, a devil and a handful of kings sporting cardboard crowns.
What I did not know before today is that Mardi Gras is also known as "Pancake Day". Of course, pancakes here in France are really crepes. It was baffling to find out that I wasn't aware of a special day dedicated to one of my favorite snacks! Indeed, "Pancake Day" is a nickname given to Mardi Gras to accentuate Carnival coming to a close and to prepare Christians for Lent. Since Lent is a time of fasting, indulgent ingredients like milk, eggs and butter are technically supposed to be eaten in limited quantities. Of course in the year 2008 it's really the Nutella and the excessive amounts of Gruyere that are the real indulgences. Must we give up such sumptuous treats for the sake of our piousness? Surely there must be some kind of special dispensation for the chocolate and cheese lovers of the world.
Anyway, I figured it was my duty as a honorary Francophone to partake in such an infamous national holiday. I stopped at my local crepe man as I walked home from the gym. Tucked away in an empty storefront the size of a phone booth, this man is a crepe genius. Don't be fooled by the modest tinfoil and household paper toweling. This is street-cart gourmet at its finest!
Consider it the Parisian version of my a beloved bacon, egg and cheese sandwich from back home. I've traded in eggs, bacon and American cheese for eggs, jambon and gruyere. It may not beat the real thing, but it comes close enough.