/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/48885701/Screen_Shot_2016-02-19_at_2.06.48_PM.0.0.png)
Pancakes are undoubtedly one of America's finest breakfast foods. Ancient artifacts suggest that our ancestors may have been eating pancake-like foods tens of thousands of years ago, and they've also been devoured by the ancient Greeks, the Romans, and the Elizabethans. Pancakes are cousins to the French specialty crepes, but we've made them all our own by adding leavening to make them thicker and fluffier and slathering them in maple syrup.
These days lazy Americans can even skip the whole measuring and whisking situation and squirt pancake batter straight from an aerosol can, and/or get a robot chef to handle the pancake-flipping process. And thanks to McDonald's recent all-day breakfast introduction, you can also get their (rather spongey) version from a drive-thru window 24 hours a day.
If you've already mastered traditional pancakes, perhaps you should try making a super-mega-giant pancake in a rice cooker. Prepare to have your mind blown:
Humans aren't the only ones who enjoy a fluffy, syrup-slathered stack of pancakes every now and again. This video of a turtle eating tiny pancakes will make you wish you had a cute little reptile with which to share your breakfast:
But wait: How ever will you make pancakes tiny enough for a turtle to eat? With a miniature stove fueled by a tea light candle and the world's smallest cast iron pan, obviously. Eat your heart out, Barbie Dream House:
If you've ever wondered how regular human-sized pancakes are made on a commercial scale, prepare to have your curiosity satisfied by this clip from the mesmerizing Discovery Channel series How It's Made:
Flipping pancakes isn't as easy as it looks, as this poor robot demonstrates. If only he could emote, he would be so frustrated.
These Minions pancakes should probably be in a museum somewhere:
Where would we be without the majesty of the pancake's older, more sophisticated French cousin, the crepe?
Finally, do not watch this next video unless you're prepared for a psychedelic pancake wonderland paired with an obnoxious song that's destined to get stuck in your head (courtesy of cult-favorite kids' show Yo Gabba Gabba along with rapper Biz Markie). Think of it as "Peanut Butter Jelly Time" for Generation Z.