When did adding sugar to pancake batter become de rigeur? I grew up in the 1950's, and my mom never added sugar. I like the contrast between the salty/buttery pancakes and the sweet maple syrup. Is adding sugar part of the modern movement that has been adding more and more sugar to everything, even to vinaigrettes? (The French do not add sugar to vinaigrettes.) Or is this a regional thing like biscuits, where Northern folk add sugar to biscuit dough a la shortcake and Southerners generally do not? I grew up in St Louis, a "half Southern" city. Biscuits were a common breakfast offering at restaurants, unlike Chicago, and only rarely were they sweetened. I never sweeten my cornbread either, but restaurants usually did. I love learning about regional differences in food: both what food is eaten and how it is prepared and seasoned. The national fast food chains and people moving to new areas are gradually "nationalizing" tastes. I hate seeing that happen.

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