Ancient Egyptians first to invent pancakes

CAIRO – 19 July 2022: Pancakes are sometimes seen as a medieval creation, but Australian food writer and chef Alice Zaslavsky says pancakes have been decorating dinner tables since the time of the Great Giza Pyramids.

According to the Australian newspaper ABC, the chef adds that there are references to copies of what we now know as pies on the walls of ancient Egyptian tombs as well as in ancient Greek and Roman texts.

Many historians trace the invention of pies and pastries to the ancient Egyptians, who owned a type of pastry made from grains such as wheat or oats. These early pancakes, especially those that Egyptian sailors ate for nourishment on their voyages, resemble an early version of biscuits. A chicken pie recipe was also discovered on a Sumerian tablet dating back to around 2000 BC.

Because of their subsequent conquest of most of the European continent, the Romans had a great influence on the West. Just like the Latin language, pancakes were also spread by the Romans. Any country can make a pie and stuff it with meat, nuts, and fruit of any kind.

The biggest change that occurred at this point in the history of pies was with the crust. One of the distinguishing features of a pie crust is that, unlike bread, it must be made of some type of fat. In Rome and other parts of southern Europe, the fat of choice was olive oil, which limits the ease of crust formation.

In northern Europe, the cold weather prevented the cultivation of olives, so other fats were used such as butter. This brings us one step closer to modern pies, which usually needs one of these ingredients to form the crust.