Difficulty: Summiteer (Level 3)
Pancakes are a common breakfast in many parts of China today, but few people are aware that the popular food has been around for 5,000 years.
An ancient griddle unearthed a few decades ago from a site in central China’s Henan province reveals that the history of Chinese pancakes could date back to five millennia ago.
Chinese legend has it that pancakes came into being when the mother goddess Nuwa mended the heavens. When the world fell apart, Nuwa gathered stones and melted them in a riverbed to patch up the sky.It was said that these patches were the earliest form of Chinese pancakes.
Another folk story suggested that pancakes were invented by Xiang Yu, a warlord.
Xiang was said to be inspired by a broken bird egg accidentally cooking on a hot rock during summer, and created the pancake by cooking flour paste on the rock.
The pancakes were said to be an economical ancient food popular among poor people.
