Government Staffers Eat 900 Pancakes on Shrove-Tide's First Day

The government house has embarked on the celebration of the Shrove-tide like the rest of the country. For the time being, the fete has been confined to cafes where the government staff is threatened with gaining weight while eating up various types of pancakes with butter, honey, strawberry, salmon and caviar.

"These "bliny" for the government have been cooked thick and light-the best samples of pancakes because those that are thin are not really for Shrove-tide," said Zoya Romanova of the government catering team.

The pancakes were in great demand today and those 300 helpings that had been initially planned to cook every day, each containing three 150-gram pancakes, have proved to be not enough for an average of 1000 people catered to daily in the government residence canteens.

Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov, too, revels in pancakes. All preceding years on Shrove-tide he ate them not only for lunch, but for dinner as well.

Next week when Srove-tide will give way to the Great Fast, the government catering outlets will place lenten fares on their menus. Vegetables, groats and mushrooms enjoy success even with those who do not keep the fast.