Ridiculous Food Product: Microwave Pancakes

Microwavable Pancakes are prevalent enough in the frozen food aisle that I need not call out a specific brand (though Pillsbury, Kellogg, and Aunt Jemima are notable purveyors). But to understand the true ridiculousness of this product, we must first understand how we got to where we are now.

1439 - Pancakes begin to appear in cookbooks in Europe. Mix together some flour, water, eggs and a few other ingredients and viola - a tasty breakfast treat. (Source: Pancake Appreciation Society. Obviously, if we can’t trust their data, whose can we trust)?

1889 - Chris L. Rutt produces the 1st self-rising pancake mix. Aunt Jemima is born shortly thereafter. (Source)

(1957 Aunt Jemima Disneyland Advertisement courtsey of roadsidepictures)

1933 - Bisquick Invented. Now we don’t even need to add eggs to our pancake mix! (Source)

(photo courtesy of oldrecipebook.com)

1933-1995 - Pancake Mix without eggs OR milk. Hard to tell exactly when this happened, but adding milk to pancakes became too cumbersome, and we decided that adding only water would be easier.

1995? - Microwave Pancakes “invented”. Not exactly sure if this is the exact date, but there appears to be a patent regarding microwave pancakes.

??? - Toaster Pancakes. Heat them up in the toaster!

How long does it take to make pancakes from a mix? 30 seconds to add water and stir. 3 minutes on the stove to cook? I’ve never had microwave pancakes, but I have to imagine that it will take at least 2 minutes to remove them from the packaging and heat in the microwave. “Good morning honey, I saved 1 minute and 30 seconds this morning making breakfast! I hope you like your cardboard pancakes. Here, just pour some sugar on top and you won’t even notice…”

I first made pancakes from scratch a few months ago, avoiding it for years because it seemed like too much work. Honestly, it probably adds an extra 5 minutes to the whole process. The result is significantly better pancakes.

What can we learn from the pancake evolution timeline?

• Over time, people have traded freshness and quality for convenience.
• The pace of technology is exponential. No advancements for 400 years and then five in the last 100.
• People are LAZY. Certainly saving a few minutes to serve an inferior product heated by microwave (and if you didn’t know, there are plenty of people in the world preaching the health risks of microwaving our food…look it up) cannot possibly pay off, can it?

Where can pancake technology go from here?

Surprisingly, there seems to be a gap in the evolution. What happened to ready made batter? Pick up a bottle at the supermarket, take it home, and pour it onto a hot griddle. Easy! Many people believe you cannot create batter that performs as well on day 2. Others beg to differ (recipe starts on pages 2).

In the future, can we look forward to:

• Baked in syrup? (the technology already exists, see the McDonalds McGriddle, whose technology is actually patented)
• Time release butter that melts just before you take a bite?
• Pancakes that heat themselves in their own packaging?

Do you guys have any ideas about how pancakes could possibly be made even more convenient? Post them in the comments below.

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