The Venice Carnival

Crumbs to Crunch has gone a bit pancake mad recently but how do other countries celebrate Shrove Tuesday? Where better to do research *ahem* than at the Venice Carnival? Someone's got to do it...

The Venice Carnival is one of the biggest and most exciting Mardi Gras celebrations in the world. The whole city was buzzing when I arrived. It felt like I had stepped into another world, another time even where people were donning masks ranging from the exquisite to the downright creepy.

To get a real sense of the Carnival, I stood in Piazza San Marco. In the distance I could hear the sound of beating drums that were getting louder and louder. It turns out that I'd stumbled across a parade where everyone was marching in medieval attire. The parade was led by drummers, followed by flag bearers who were throwing the flags into the air like some elaborate dance. Up next were some very regal looking characters strolling across the square. The final member of the group was the King who picked various knights to duel for the crowd's amusement.

I didn't manage to get a good picture in Piazza San Marco
but I did catch up with the marchers later.

Obviously all this marching/dueling is hungry work so I popped into a bakery to see what was on offer. The typical carnival snack is frittelle which are doughnuts filled with custard cream. I also tried bugie which are strips of fried pastry dusted with icing sugar. Mine was filled with chocolate which was a tasty albeit caloric treat.

Burano

From left to right: bugia, bussolai, frittella.

On the colourful island of Burano, I followed the most amazing smell of baked goods and found myself at another bakery, The baker had just whipped up a batch of bussolai buranei which are lemony almond biscuits, a speciality of Burano. They were absolutely divine and were a perfect accompaniment to the festivities.

One very enthusiastic baker in Burano,

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