The crêpe has a long history and is hugely popular around the world, but many people don't know where it came from. Did it really originate in Japan? Let's find out.
What Is a Crêpe?
A crêpe is made from wheat flour, eggs, sugar, milk and butter mixed into a batter, then poured into a pan to form a thin round sheet. As it starts to cook, you can add savoury or sweet fillings as you like. Many Thais know crêpes well, because they are sold everywhere as crisp, folded triangles with savoury or sweet fillings and toppings chosen by the customer.
The Origin of the Crêpe
The crêpe originated in France. In the beginning, crêpes were the food of the Bretons in Brittany, France. They mixed buckwheat flour with oil and salt into a dough and cooked it on hot stones. These were called "galettes" and were eaten with cheese and potatoes instead of bread, especially in hard times such as World War II. In French, the word "crêpe" means silk.
The traditional French crêpe is soft and is mostly served folded into a triangle as well. In the past, crêpes were spread with butter and sprinkled with sugar, or filled with fruit, mushrooms, cheese and ham. Today recipes have been adapted to suit modern tastes and local preferences in each region or country. A cooked crêpe is round and golden like the sun, so it became a symbol of the sun, used for fortune-telling in farming communities during the festival of La Chandeleur.
Crêpes and La Chandeleur
La Chandeleur, also known as National Crêpe Day, falls on 2 February every year, 40 days after Christmas. On this day the French celebrate by eating all kinds of crêpes in remembrance of the Virgin Mary and the infant Jesus, making it an important religious day for Roman Catholics.
The name La Chandeleur comes from "la chandelle", meaning candle. The festival began in A.D. 472, when Pope Gelasius I established it to celebrate the presentation of Jesus at the temple. On the night of the festival, people would walk in procession holding candles and praying.
After the procession, the faithful would go into the church to take a lit holy candle home, taking care that it didn't go out on the way, because the candle was believed to have great powers. For example, dripping its wax onto an egg was said to make the egg hatch, and lighting it during a storm was said to protect against lightning.
Today, the candlelit processions and beliefs about holy candles have faded away, but the tradition of making crêpes on La Chandeleur lives on, thanks to the crêpe's sweet, irresistible flavour.
Crêpes in Thailand
Crêpes have been sold in Thai markets for quite some time and can be found at markets and outside schools. These are hot crêpes with a thin, crisp batter and your choice of savoury or sweet fillings. Savoury toppings include egg, sausage, mushrooms, ham and nam prik pao (Thai chilli paste), while sweet toppings include foi thong (golden egg-yolk threads), raisins, milk cream and fruit creams in various flavours.
Chilled crêpes can now be found in leading restaurants and some cafés, and some shops have adapted crêpes into crêpe cakes, mille-crêpe layer cakes and ice cream crêpes.
