Food price surge fails to dent flipping fun at Cork City's annual pancake race

The cost of making pancakes has surged by more than a third in just five years, new figures show — but that didn’t stop Cork traders from taking to the streets on Monday to revive a long‑standing tradition ahead of Pancake Tuesday.

Ahead of Shrove Tuesday, the Central Statistics Office (CSO) said the price of staple ingredients for homemade pancakes had jumped by 35.2% since 2020. A basket containing two litres of milk, six large eggs, and bags of flour and sugar that cost an average of €6.57 in 2020 now comes to €9.17, according to the latest data.

“Over the five-year period from December 2020 to December 2025, the cost of two litres of full fat milk increased by 72c (+42.6%), and the cost of 2kg of flour grew by 62c (+31.6%),” said the CSO's Anthony Dawson.

“A carton of six large eggs rose by 57c (+32.0%) over the same period. Topping off your pancake with a sprinkle of sugar is more expensive too, with sugar showing the largest percentage increase of all four items we looked at.” 

While sugar prices (1kg) were unchanged between December 2024 and December 2025, they remain up 60.5% on 2020 levels.

In the year to December 2025, the price of flour has fallen slightly by an average of 2c, while milk and eggs have risen by an average of 5c and 9c, respectively.

The warning about rising prices comes as separate data from Worldpanel by Numerator shows grocery inflation climbing once more, rising from 6.25% to 6.82%.

“Our latest pressure group study reveals that more shoppers in Ireland are finding the current economic climate tough, with 31% feeling that they are struggling to make ends meet,” said Worldpanel business development director Emer Healy.

“This is no surprise: Rising grocery inflation means that consumers are increasingly feeling the pinch.”

Despite the squeeze on households, there was no shortage of good humour on Cork’s MacCurtain Street, where dozens of traders brought traffic to a halt for the annual pancake race — a tradition dating back to 1826 when Thompson’s Bakery first organised it, and revived by the Metropole Hotel in 2018.

Armed with frying pans and pre-made pancakes, dozens of traders sprinted down MacCurtain Street — flipping as they ran — in the hopes of being crowned the Pancake Race Champion.

This year’s winners were The Address’s Azim Ali and the Metropole’s Robert Bejanishvili.

“It feels really good to win — I would race one more time just to win again,” Mr Bejanishvili said, joking his 15 years of professional handball experience served as ideal preparation. “If you want to win, I would definitely suggest training.” 

Mr Ali said sharing the title was grand — but promised an outright win next year.

“I woke up at 6am and said to myself that I would be the winner today. I just wanted to win, and so I did,” he said.

James Healy, who works at the Shelbourne Bar, had high hopes to win this year, but said he was not “disappointed” because it was “all fun taking part in it".

Mr Healy is already looking ahead to the next pancake race:  “I’ll go back to training and come back stronger for the next one, and I will remember to bring my runners next time."