Buckwheat came to North America from Southwest Asia and also spread to Eastern Europe, where a similar meal called blintz also developed. In Brittany, crêpes are traditionally served with cider. In Italy it is crespella. In areas of Central Europe, the meal is called palačinka (Serbian, Macedonian, Czech, Slovak, Croatian and Slovenian), as well as Palatschinken (in Austria) and palacsinta (Hungary), all these terms being derived from Romanian plăcintă (Latin placenta, meaning cake). Interestingly, an actual Romanian plăcintă is actually more similar to a quiche than to a crêpe, and the Romanian word for crêpe is clătită. In Danish it's Pandekage, in most German regions it's Pfannkuchen, and in Dutch it's pannenkoeken. The Polish version is called naleśniki. In the Spanish region of Galicia, they're called filloas, and may also be made with pork blood instead of milk.

Crêpes are made by pouring a thin liquid batter onto a hot frying pan or flat circular hot plate, often with a trace of butter or oil spread out evenly across the pan's surface. The batter is spread evenly over the cooking surface of the pan or plate either by tilting the pan or by distributing the batter with a special spatula. The thin layer then thickens and needs to be inverted at least once so that it cooks evenly on both sides. To make even thinner crêpes, one can mix the batter with a small amount of water before pouring it into the pan.

Common fillings for meal crêpes include: cheese, asparagus, ham, spinach, eggs, ratatouille, mushrooms, artichoke (in certain regions), or various meat products.

When they are sweet, they can be a dessert. They can be filled with various other sweet items: jam, melted chocolate, dairy, ice cream, Nutella (a chocolate and hazelnut paste), bananas, berries, nuts, poppyseeds, cinnamon, etc. Popular sweet toppings include sugar (granulated or powdered), maple syrup, lemon juice, whipped cream, fruit spreads, sliced soft fruits, etc.

Mille crêpe is a French cake made of many crêpe layers. Mille (mil) means "a thousand," implying the many layers of crêpe. However, due to the amount of times crêpes are folded, the same effect is often achieved even with a single crêpe. 

A more elaborate French and Belgian crêpe is the Crêpe Suzette, a crêpe with lightly grated orange peel and liqueur (usually Grand Marnier) which is subsequently lit.

It is also a fairly common practice to roll or envelope them and then lightly fry, bake or sautée them, not unlike blintzes, whose preparation is otherwise similar.

The batter of the original French crêpe is usually made with white wheat flour when the crêpe is served as a sweet crêpe. It is made with buckwheat flour when the crêpe (rather called galette) is served as a savory crêpe. A batter made of 100% buckwheat flour is gluten-free. This makes it possible for people who have a gluten allergy or intolerance to eat crêpes/galettes (as long as the other ingredients of the dish are gluten-free, too, of course).

It is also possible to make crêpes without eggs, and crêpes without milk.

A common recipe practiced among bodybuilders is what is called a "Bodybuilder's Crêpe," traditionally made with whey protein powder, flavoring, egg white, and other popular ingredients such as cottage cheese, oats, and peanut butter. They are prepared the same way as normal crêpes are, but can sometimes cook much faster.

A crêperie may be a takeaway restaurant or stall, serving crêpes as a form of fast food or street food, or may be a more formal sit-down restaurant or café (such as our very own Crêperie).

Crêperies are typical of Brittany in France; however, crêperies can be found throughout France, Europe, and even Tokyo, the United States and Canada. In the Canadian province of Quebec, crêperies are especially abundant because of the French influence.

Because a crêpe may contain a variety of fillings, it can serve as both a main meal or a dessert. Savory courses are usually served in the form of buckwheat galettes. Crêperies may therefore be quite diverse in their offerings and may make other baked goods such as baguettes. They may also serve coffee, tea, buttermilk and, as previously mentioned above, cider.

In France, crêpes were traditionally served on Candlemas (La Chandeleur), February 2^nd. This day was originally Virgin Mary's Blessing Day but became known as avec Crêpe Day, referring to the tradition of offering avec crêpes. It was once believed (and still may be by some!) that if you could catch the crêpe with a frying pan after tossing it in the air with your left hand and holding a piece of gold on your right, you would become rich that year!