Liverpool pancake race winner crowned
LunyaLita battered the rest of the competition
Last updated 1st Mar 2022
Liverpool’s traditional Pancake Day race, pitting the city’s top chefs against each other to celebrate Shrove Tuesday, has been won by chef Alex Hopkins from LunyaLita.
Held in the gardens of Liverpool Parish Church, the annual race sees chefs from top restaurants in the city make a pancake that will allow them to compete in laps around the gardens, while also flipping the pancake.
The pancake must be thick enough to withstand the outdoors, light enough to be flipped cleanly while running, and must not fall from the pan.
Four chefs from Hotel Indigo, Ma Boyle's, Artists Club and Lunya Lita took part. Along with bragging rights, the winner, Alex Hopkins, receives an engraved pancake pan, presented by the Rector of Liverpool, the Revd Canon Dr Crispin Pailing.
The win came after a strong start by Alex, whose natural height gave him an advantage from the start.
“It’s a huge win and a proud achievement”, he said. “I’ve been training by running from the stockroom to the kitchen”.
The origin of pancakes on Shrove Tuesday lies in the tradition of using up remaining fat and dairy products before ‘fasting’ began in Lent.
Although people rarely give up dairy products in Lent today, many Christians still keep the tradition of giving something up as a way of preparing themselves for Easter.
Held originally in the 1980s, the Pancake Day race was revived in Liverpool in the mid 2000s.
It sees the start of a year of special events to celebrate and platform Liverpool’s hospitality industry. ‘Taste Liverpool. Drink Bordeaux’ is a new festival taking place from 2-5 June to coincide with the Queen’s Jubilee Celebrations.
The team behind the festival, including some of the city’s best known chefs and restaurateurs, are promising ‘the most delicious weekend of the year’.