just wondering...

[Natalie_123]

why exactly do we eat pancakes on pancake day?

[Lonnie]

Its because certain things were forbidden on lent, and it was a way of using them up beforehand,
In the case of Pancakes, its Fat, Butter, Milk and Eggs, those things are, or were forbidden.
The bit you want, is about halway down, but the whole thing is very interesting.

http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/custom s/shrove.html

[Octavius]

Yes makes sense really. In the old days there were many foods that observant Christians would not eat during Lent: foods such as meat and fish, fats, eggs, and milky foods.

So that no food was wasted, families would have a feast on the shriving Tuesday, and eat up all the foods that wouldn't last the forty days of Lent without going off.

The need to eat up the fats gave rise to the French name Mardi Gras ('fat Tuesday'). Pancakes became associated with Shrove Tuesday as they were a dish that could use up all the eggs, fats and milk in the house with just the addition of flour.