Of BPs and... ETs!

The inventor with a plate of BPs

Much more than just the culinary world has been puzzled by the fabulous success of the "Bekaert Pancakes" (BP). Their taste has inspired poets and songwriters (everybody sporting at least one ear must know the romantic "My Flat Love" by Bon Jovi and Britney Spears' dance superhit "Have a BP in my TeePee"), there are books and comics about them, also several Hollywood movies ("Indiana Jones and the Mystery of BPs" just coming into the cinemas - not to miss!), and countless TV ads. People of all ages reportedly fall in love merely by smelling them (which is pretty dangerous in case there's nobody to love around them!) and even the most unpredictable psychopathic criminals sit back and swallow dreamingly just at the sight of the typical yellow wrapping on their prison cell TV.

So far only very little has been known about the pancakes and the mysterious Man Who Gave Them Name, Dr. Philippe Bekaert. The latest news has finally shed some light upon the secrets of the fabulous BPs… and, surprisingly, it does not involve Dr. Bekaert - but his wife, Dr. Annelies Maes! It seems that exactly this mysterious woman has been crucial to the development and fine flavouring of the divine pancakes. There's no doubt she is a very extraordinary person. As you can see on the unique photograph from our tireless reporters, this lady has not two but six hands (two of them she holds behind her back). Some have compared Dr. Maes to the Goddess Kali but that seems to be a hopeless dead-end trail of research.

However the truth might be inconceivably more surprising than such speculations. Newest theories point to the sky… YES, the origin of the BPs in your kitchen cupboard might be extraterrestrial! Take the shape - what does it remind you of first if not flying saucers? Who has ever seen a living person with six hands? Now honestly, do you really believe Dr. Bekaert was born on a plane - when it could have been a spaceship? And what exactly has happened at Roswell?

(-ppoluf-)

Published in La Gazette de Bru, Bru, België, Saturday, May 12, 2001, p. 16

Tomáš Fülöpp

Brussel, Belgium

May 7, 2001, May 12, 2001