Tiganites: Greek Pancakes (Τηγανίτες)
Aunt Jemima or Uncle Socrates? Click to Enlarge Image. What did the ancient Greeks eat? This question has been asked for centuries and it has spawned numerous scholarly, specialist, and dilettante studies on the matter. There have also been countless attempts at re-creating ancient Greek recipes and the Internet is full of such investigations. However, we need not look too hard to discover one ancient Greek food which is still around today; indeed it is a staple of numerous modern European and North American cuisines. In Canada and the United States we know them as pancakes or flapjacks , in France they are called crêpes , and the Scots and Irish know them as drop-scones or griddlecakes ; in Australia and New Zealand they are referred to as pikelets , and in Russia they are blini . The Greeks call them tiganites (Gk. τηγανίτες , pronounced as “tee-gha-NEE-tehs”) which is from the ancient Greek taginites ( ταγηνίτης ) and they have been a popular breakfast food in Greece sinc...