A silly, yet popular Norwegian tale about a pancake that got away

Mar 15, 2016

Ok, so this is a blog post I’m not sure will really translate very well into English, but I happened to come across it earlier and it brought back so many wonderful childhood memories I just had to at least give this a try!  

This might be a funny story for the Norwegian-Americans who are reading this, to tell your children or grandchildren or you may even have heard this story! And for the Norwegians (like me), you may have completely forgotten about this tale from when you were a little child until now, just like me!

Food and childhood memories are so closely linked together, in fact it’s how I justify why I love certain dishes as much as I do, because there is no other reason than sentimental ones (some Norwegian food can be, admittedly quite strange to the outsider).

Last week I managed to recreate the thin, crepe-like Norwegian pancakes we typically have for dinner,  in a dairy free and eggless form for breakfast to my husband, who was craving them.  

I was worried he was not going to be crazy about the new version, but I’m happy to report that both the flavor and texture came out beautifully.  I have included the recipe in this blog post, and you can feel free to skip the “funny” story about the pancake I grew up with and go right to it 🙂

This folklore tale is a “regeleventyr”, which means it’s a fairy tale that rhymes in a way, but it won’t in English, however you will still get the gist of it.  

It’s hard to decide who to feel sorry for – the hungry people in the tale or the pancake (I tend to side with the pancake).  You be the judge! Ok here we go. The names in parentheses are the Norwegian words for the characters in the story, that rhyme:)

pannekaka

THE PANCAKE

Once upon a time, there was a women with seven kids, whom she cooked pancakes for. The pancakes were made from raw milk, it was laying there in the pan, rising so big and fluffy, and the kids were standing around the pan, and the old father looked upon.

“Oh please, mom, let me have a little pancake, I’m so hungry”, said the first child.

“Oh please”, said the second child

“Oh pretty, please”, begged the third child

“Oh pretty, kind, dear you, please”, begged the fourth child

“Oh pretty, kind, dear, good mom, please”, begged the fifth child

“Oh beautiful, pretty, kind, dear, good mom, please”, begged the sixth child

“Oh beautiful, ,pretty, kind, dear, good and sweet mom, please”, begged the seventh child

“Yes, my dear children”, said the mother,  “just be patient and wait until I can turn it around, then you will all get a piece, just have a look and see how thick and fluffy it’s getting!”

When the pancake heard that, it became scared, and all of a sudden it turned itself, initially wanting to jump out of the pan, but it turned on the other side, and cooked a little on the other side too. It became a bit firmer  so it got the strength to jump out of the pan and on to the floor, and then it rolled across the room and out through the door.

“Hey!!” yelled the woman, and all the kids and even the old father tried to run after it to catch it.  But the pancake rolled and rolled and soon it was so far gone that the women and children couldn’t see it anymore, because the pancake was faster than they were.

pannekakeeventyr

After a while of rolling, the pancake met a man.  “Good afternoon, pancake” said the man.

“God bless, man”, said the pancake (mann, brann)

“My dear pancake, not so fast, please stay a bit so I can eat you,”  the man asked.

“No, I have managed to run away from a woman, her old man and seven screaming children,  I will manage to run away from you as well,” replied the pancake and kept rolling until it met a hen.

“Good afternoon, pancake”, the hen said

“Good day, hen,” replied the pancake. (høne pøne)

honepone

“My dear pancake, not so fast, please stay a bit so I can eat you,” begged the hen.

“No, I have managed to run away from a woman, her old man and seven screaming children, and a man,  I will manage to run away from you as well,” replied the pancake and continued rolling like a wheel until it met a rooster.

“Good afternoon, pancake,” said the rooster

“Good afternoon, rooster”, replied the pancake (hane, pane)

“My dear pancake, not so fast, please stay a bit so I can eat you,” begged the rooster.

“No, I have managed to run away from a woman, her old man and seven screaming children, a man and a hen,  I will manage to run away from you as well,” replied the pancake and continued rolling as fast as it could. After a long while it met a duck.

“Good afternoon, pancake,” said the duck.

“Good afternoon, duck” replied the pancake. (ande, vande)

“My dear pancake, not so fast, please stay a bit so I can eat you,” begged the duck.

“No, I have managed to run away from a woman, her old man and seven screaming children, a man, a hen and a rooster,  I will manage to run away from you as well,” replied the pancake and continued rolling until it met a goose.

“Good afternoon, pancake,” said the goose

“Good afternoon, goose”, replied the pancake. (gåse, våse)

“My dear pancake, not so fast, please stay a bit so I can eat you,” begged the goose.

“No, I have managed to run away from a woman, her old man and seven screaming children, a man, a hen, a rooster and a duck,  I will manage to run away from you as well,” replied the pancake and hurriedly continued to roll down the road.

After a long, long time of rolling, the pancake came across a gander.

“Good afternoon, pancake,” said the gander.

“Good afternoon, gander”, replied the pancake. (gasse, vasse)

“My dear pancake, not so fast, please stay a bit so I can eat you,” begged the gander.

“No, I have managed to run away from a woman, her old man and seven screaming children, a man, a hen, a rooster, a duck and a gander,  I will manage to run away from you as well,” replied the pancake and rolled quickly down the road.

After a long while, the pancake encountered a pig.

“Good afternoon, pancake,” said the pig

“Good afternoon, pig”, replied the pancake (gylte, grisesylte)

“My dear pancake, stay a little while, no need to hurry off.  Let’s walk together through the woods, I heard it’s not safe to walk through there alone.”

The pancake thought that made sense, so it agreed.

pigpancake

But after while, they came up to a creek.  The pig could float on water due to his flesh, so he had no problem crossing the creek, but the pancake could not.

“Sit on my face,” the pig said, “and I’ll carry you over”. And so the pancake did.

“Oink, oink”, said the pig and ate the pancake in one gulp.

And when the pancake couldn’t go any further, neither could this tale!

grispannekake

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Silly, right?? I guess I’m still finding these tales amusing 🙂

Enjoy the pancake recipe and as always, please leave me a comment and tell me what you think!!

 

 

NORVEGAN PANCAKES 

2 cups (300 grams) all purpose flour

1/3 cup (75 grams) granulated sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

4 tablespoons vegan butter, melted

1 tablespoon ground flax seeds mixed with 3 tbsp water

3 cups (700ml) plant based milk

Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl.

Add the flax seed mixture in with the plant based milk and our over the dry ingredients, combine until no more streaks of flour are visible, then add in the butter. Don’t over mix.  Let the batter sit for 10-15 minutes before pouring a small amount in a lightly oiled or buttered frying pan over medium heat. Cook until lightly brown on both sides.

Top with fresh blueberries or blueberry jam or any topping you wish!

Norwegianpancakes

 

 

 

 

 

14 Comments

  1. Karen

    Sunny,
    This is the style “pannekaker” my Mother made and, it is a special treat As I am allergic to blueberries, we always had them with strawberries or strawberry jam and dusted with powdered sugar. Much prefer them to the regular pancake served here in the US.

    Reply
  2. Sunny

    Hi Karen, yes, agree with you they are wonderful and I prefer them to the American style pancakes (although I can appreciate those too!). And I think they are amazing with any topping really – I’ve had them with strawberry jam and sour cream (when I ate dairy) which is a very traditional topping too, especially on “sveler” (that are similar to American pancakes, typical of my home region in northwestern Norway). 🙂 xx

    Reply
  3. Lina

    Your blog is everything I have ever wanted. I’m coming up on 18 months vegan, and I was so afraid I wouldn’t be able to make the Norwegian things I love so much because they all call for butter and heavy cream. Thank you for taking the guess work out of it for me!

    Reply
    • Sunny

      Lina, how wonderful to read your comment, I’m so happy you found my blog! You are the reader I’ve been waiting for too! 🙂 looking forward to staying connected and stay tuned for more posts in the near future! Sunny xoxo

      Reply
  4. Jennifer

    Great blog! LOVING the Norwegian Vegan Recipes! LOVE the scenes from Norway, too!!!!

    Reply
    • Sunny

      Thank you so much, Jennifer – your feedback and support means a lot to me, really appreciate it and so glad you like my blog! Thank you and very happy you found me! Have a great day and stop in again soon! Sunny 🙂

      Reply
  5. Cecile

    This is so much like the story “The Gingerbread Man”… but you probably already knew that. I would love to try these pancakes… but I’ll have to make sure ‘he’ doesn’t run away from me!! ; o )

    Reply
  6. Cecile

    Question – I’m assuming that, originally, these pancakes were make with milk, either from a goat or a cow. If I use cow’s milk, can I use the same proportions?

    Reply
    • Sunny

      Hi Cecile, glad you liked my story! 🙂 My question is, why would you want to (Use cow’s milk) when you could get the same, or even better, results with plant based milk? Of course you could use whatever you like, but for your health, I would suggest going with the plant based product 🙂 Happy cooking and thanks again for stopping by! 🙂

      Reply
      • Cecile

        It seems I’m not as health conscious as you are… and I absolutely admire you for being so good about watching what you eat!! I’ll be 66 in August and I grew up drinking cow’s milk and will, most likely, drink it for the rest of my life… ; o )

        Reply
  7. Sophie33

    What a funny story & I loved the simple pancake recipe too! I made it & loved it so much!

    Reply
  8. Sunny

    So glad you tried the pancakes out, Sophie – simple but tasty is often the best, right?! The story is a childhood favorite and I had completely forgotten about it until I came over it again earlier this year, lol! So great to hear from you! xo

    Reply
  9. nanwithaplan

    Thanks for the pancake story and info about regeleventyr. I really like the first 3 illustrations too–what book(s?) are they from? If the books are in Norwegian, so much the better for me to appreciate the rhyming.

    Reply
    • Sunny

      Hi Nan – glad you enjoyed the post. I”m not sure exactly which books the illustrations are from, but are inspired by Asbjørnsen og Moe and the Grimm brothers- you can find the story in Norwegian on tommeliten.no. Hope that helps! 🙂

      Reply

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