Kissing Pancakes & Flipping Babies

[shereads]

Here at the center of the world wall map (USA), we're selecting the Democratic nominee for the November presidential election via the Iowa Caucus, where candidates take tough questions from a representative cross-section of white middle-class rural Americans of hardy Norwegian ancestry, while serving them (the Americans) pancakes.

I wonder: Why pancakes? Why not bowls of cereal? Does this custom have its roots in Europe? Does Tony Blair have to make tongue sandwiches for voters in Britain? In Sweden, do public figures spend weeks rolling fiskbullar to serve to the people? In France, do...well, the concept of public "servants" doesnt' really translate, does it...



Some concerns: Is it possible that weeks of this carbohydrate-heavy pancake diet might make a lazy electorate? With so many U.S. adults "on Atkins," can the participants in these meet-the-candidate pancake breakfasts really be called typical white middle-class rural voters? Are qualified candidates choosing not to seek high office because they're near their goal weight on Atkins and fear a return to carb addiction?

No lie; it's all about pancakes. These are excerpts from only a fraction of pancake-related presidential campaign stories, turned up in a few minutes of google searching:

NY Times: "Howard Dean, former Vermont Governor, answering questions at a pancake breakfast at Central College in Pella, Iowa..."

abc7: "With just a week to go before caucus night the Democratic Presidential hopefuls are scrambling to pick up as many endorsements and shake as many hands as possible. Their schedules are packed with pancake breakfasts and roundtable discussions."

desertnews: "Dean started his day in Waterloo, where he attended a pancake breakfast. Taking his turn serving pancakes to a crowd of more than 200, he told reporters..."

iowa.deanforamerica: "Caucus for Change Pancake Breakfast, Fort Dodge Museum Opera House, Highway 20 & Museum Road..."

dcpox.com: "I was not invited to the debates or pancake breakfasts, but Al {Sharpton} was." (Editorial by Alec Dubro, editor and publisher of the Washington Pox.)

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General Wesley Clark bypassed Iowa to get a head start in the New Hampshire Primaries, where they do things a bit differently.

birddogger.org: "HANOVER—Gen. Clark will attend a pancake breakfast at Sigma Phi Epsilon, 11 Webster Ave., at 8:30 a.m."

carboncoalition.com: "Candidate Calendar: Clark: 9:00 AM at Belknap Mills
Mill Plaza, Laconia, NH Pancake Breakfast... Sunday, January 18, Clark: 10:00 AM at Keene Middle School, 17 Washington St, Keene, NH, Pancake Breakfast

adage.com:"I've seen Dean and Edwards and now Clark," said Gigi Brienza, of Princeton, N.J., at a pancake breakfast for Clark in a Veterans of Foreign Wars hall in Rochester. She said she had come to hear the candidates' views on health care."

(Gigi, insist on whole grain pancakes, no butter, light on the syrup. Healthcare is a do-it-yourself issue for the foreseeable future -sr)

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Here's one example of the effect these pancakes may be having on citizen participants and candidates alike:

washingtonpost.com: "Alice Davis, a 75-year-old mother of six, said her decision was based less on policy and more on background and how a candidate acted at gatherings such as this one {a pancake breakfast - sr}. Davis said she liked that Gephardt was from the Midwest and admired how he pulled himself up from humble beginnings. "I think that makes you a better person." But Davis worried that Gephardt was "too nice." The candidate assured them that although he is nice, he is also "tough."

Okay, but what about his arteries?

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There's too much at stake here to allow one food group to direct the process that will lead to the nomination of a candidate for the Presidency. Moreover, the candidates are middle-aged men under high stress - What if we get a good one, and the caucus diet kills him?

Shouldn't some other meet-the-candidate activities be considered?

Ideas?


Not all pancakes are perfectly round.
There's room for diversity:

 

[Icingsugar]

I wonder: Why pancakes? Why not bowls of cereal? Does this custom have its roots in Europe? Does Tony Blair have to make tongue sandwiches for voters in Britain? In Sweden, do public figures spend weeks rolling fiskbullar to serve to the people? In France, do...well, the concept of public "servants" doesnt' really translate, does it...

If anyone ever comes near this Swede with fiskbullar, I'll kindly kick his ass.

 

[Somme]

I personally think the humble pikelet would be more appropriate.

http://sammy.katgyrl.com/pikelet.html

 

[oggbashan]

Tony Blair doesn't have time to eat with voters.

He knows that being photographed eating is a definite no no.

He is too busy saying a succession of sound bites.

Conservative politicians have tea and cucumber sandwiches, with the crusts cut off and made into little triangles. They know not to eat the sandwiches. Cucumber gives you wind. They hold one daintly between two fingers and then deposit it back on the plate. They don't drink the tea either. They pretend to sip it and leave a full cup. There is a whole sub-art to political eating.

The Lord Mayor of London hosts banquets for official visitors such as Heads of State. The food is supplied in quantity but cameras and video is not allowed until after the food and the evidence of food has been completely cleared away and the speeches start. Politicians can and do eat at the Lord Mayor's Banquets. Who pays? He does - from his own money. You have to be seriously rich to stand for Lord Mayor. You will be poorer after your year.

Og

PS. The Lord Mayor is the Mayor of the City of London and has real power. The Queen and the Prime Minister have to ask his permission to enter the City. Not to be confused with the Mayor of London who is supposed to run the rest of London but has so many compromises to make with other bodies that he runs nothing.

 

[Icingsugar]

PS. The Lord Mayor is the Mayor of the City of London and has real power. The Queen and the Prime Minister have to ask his permission to enter the City.

So, when was the last time he stood at the gates and roared "You Shall Not Pass!" to said dignities?

...or just said "Nay."

 

[McKenna]

.

 

[Guest]

 

[lucky-E-leven]

pancake breakfasts

I agree that a good drunkfest amongst the candidates would be quite telling, but as this could link them to such things as alcoholoism it would be highly unlikely to ever take place.

I was thinking of something a little more along the lines of a pie-eating contest...no better yet, hot dogs. After all, what is more american than hot dogs? All of them lined up at a table, similar to the scene in Stand By Me with a tub full of hot dogs before them. On the word go we would see how much each could devour in a given period of time.

I would be able to see who my winner was, by who lost by the greatest margin. I figure it would be nice to see how much convoluted crap they could swallow of their own accord, and would give me a good indication of how much shit they could justify forcing down my throat for the next four years.

Of course this is a bad idea because of the aforementioned health implications, but I'm pretty sure hot dogs are low in carbs and would fit quite nicely into the atkins diet!

Hungry, anyone?

E

 

[Boxlicker101]

Re: pancake breakfasts

I agree that a good drunkfest amongst the candidates would be quite telling, but as this could link them to such things as alcoholoism it would be highly unlikely to ever take place.

I was thinking of something a little more along the lines of a pie-eating contest...no better yet, hot dogs. After all, what is more american than hot dogs? All of them lined up at a table, similar to the scene in Stand By Me with a tub full of hot dogs before them. On the word go we would see how much each could devour in a given period of time.

I would be able to see who my winner was, by who lost by the greatest margin. I figure it would be nice to see how much convoluted crap they could swallow of their own accord, and would give me a good indication of how much shit they could justify forcing down my throat for the next four years.

Of course this is a bad idea because of the aforementioned health implications, but I'm pretty sure hot dogs are low in carbs and would fit quite nicely into the atkins diet!

Hungry, anyone?

E

Actually, hot dogs ae not that All-American. The weiner in the bun is an American innovation but the frankfurter itself is from Germany. Corn on the cob is pretty American, or maybe apple or pumpkinpie.
Pancake preakfasts or suppers are traditionally held by churches as fund-raisers. I don't know how they got associated with politics, but if a politician expresses fondness for something, it immediately becomes suspect, at least to me.

 

[gauchecritic]

Maybe if they were proper pancakes it would help, rather than those giant crumpets.

Ask anyone else in the world what a pancake is and they will be able to tell you that they are paperthin, light and can be wrapped around things actually worth eating, like bean sprouts, various meats, or bacon and onions.

Pancakes. HA.

Gauche

 

[minsue]

Maybe if they were proper pancakes it would help, rather than those giant crumpets.

Ask anyone else in the world what a pancake is and they will be able to tell you that they are paperthin, light and can be wrapped around things actually worth eating, like bean sprouts, various meats, or bacon and onions.

Pancakes. HA.

Gauche

Gauche -

You people all think soccer is football, too.

- Mindy

 

[Guest]

Gauche, how can a wafer-thin pan thing be called a cake? Don't bother answering.

I make pancakes like my father taught me and I won't describe them for fear of ridicule. Pancakes for me are a family affair so I suspect that's why politicians here feast on them in public. I don't like that, I think the state and family should be as separate as the church and state.

Perdita

 

[McKenna]

.

 

[minsue]

Speaking of ridicule... I thought it was "normal" and "American" to eat peanut butter and maple syrup on my pancakes... until I did it in front of someone who wasn't a family member.

How was I to know the peanut butter/maple syrup fetish was a family thing?!


Oh yes, and Gauche, crepes are not pancakes. Bleh.

Reminds me of my favorite breakfast growing up, McKenna. Toast slathered with peanut butter while still warm (so the peanut butter gets good & melty), cut into bite size squares, and coated with light caro syrup. I didn't know how odd that was, either, until a friend spent the night and was thouroughly disgusted come morning.

- Mindy

 

[McKenna]

.

 

[Guest]

Min and Mack (hey, what a great duo's name): I never thought of putting peanut-butter on pancakes, and won't (NOT making fun), but I do put it on a warm tortilla, yummy.

Perdita

 

[Boxlicker101]

Maybe if they were proper pancakes it would help, rather than those giant crumpets.

Ask anyone else in the world what a pancake is and they will be able to tell you that they are paperthin, light and can be wrapped around things actually worth eating, like bean sprouts, various meats, or bacon and onions.

Pancakes. HA.

Gauche

What you are thinking of are usually called crepes, especially in France. In the United States, pancakes include a leavening substance, usually baking soda, so they rise while cooking, like a cake. Since they are cakes, cooked in a pan, they are called pancakes. They are also called flapjacks, skillet cakes, hot cakes and probably some other printable things. I believe crumpets are baked.

I have made thousands of pancakes for myself and friends and family, usually from Bisquick or a package mix. Sometimes I put chunky applesauce in the batter and top the cakes with more warm applesauce. Really tasty, especially with sausage or bacon on the side.

Mack, maple syrup on pancakes is a very American thing, and that is what they will be doing in New Hampshire next week. I'v never heard of peanut butter on pancakes but it is not as weird sounding as beansprouts wrapped in crepes. Besides syrup, I also like them with jam, jelly or preserves (marmalade, to some)

 

[Boxlicker101]

Min and Mack (hey, what a great duo's name): I never thought of putting peanut-butter on pancakes, and won't (NOT making fun), but I do put it on a warm tortilla, yummy.

Perdita

I'v never eaten peanut butter on a warm tortilla, but it sounds good. I do like peanut butter on toast, though. I'v never tried peanut butter and syrup, though, and I am sure I won't.

 

[gauchecritic]

How presumptuous

What I am thinking of Box, is something that we English eat on Shrove Tuesday or Mardi Gras (what do I think that is? party day?) or as we call it over here Pancake day and I don't need no yankee come lately to tell me what pancakes are.

What you lot eat is a large version of Scotch Pancakes.

Shrove Tuesday was traditionally a day of feasting, when pantries (larders) were emptied in order that Lent may be observed more comfortably. Pancakes were a good and easily made (and affordable) accompaniment to eating every scrap of meat in the house. Apocryphal or not, that is the story I know and that was before we invented America.

Now tell me what I'm thinking.

I'll bet you put sugar on your porridge too. HA

Gauche (sans smilies)

 

[Guest]

Re: How presumptuous

... and that was before we invented America.

You take credit for that, do you? In public?

Perdita

 

[minsue]

Min and Mack (hey, what a great duo's name): I never thought of putting peanut-butter on pancakes, and won't (NOT making fun), but I do put it on a warm tortilla, yummy.

Perdita

Mmmm...peanut butter on a tortilla sounds yummy. I still make 'sandwiches' using tortillas more often than using bread. (another childhood meal that I didn't realize at the time was odd)

- Mindy

 

[Guest]

Where did you grow up, Min? How did tortillas enter your childhood? My ma made them from scratch every morning. She tried to teach me but mine never came out round.

Perdita

p.s. love the AV (though I miss frumpy ladybug goosey)

 

[wildsweetone]

I have to side with Gauche here...

Pancakes are best made by the English (and its colonies). Nothin' like 'em.

 

[Guest]

p.s. to Gauche: I make Mexican porridge (oatmeal steeped with cinnamon sticks, raisins and brown sugar added).

Perdita

 

[gauchecritic]

Re: Re: How presumptuous

You take credit for that, do you? In public?

Perdita

No harm in inventing things, what other people do with them is hardly our fault. Just ask Messrs. Smith&Wesson, Mr Sikorsky or even Mr Einstein.

Gauche