Fat Thursday

Pączki

For those who know me, I am Indian, unapologetically so. But now and then, I try and inject a little Polish culture into my kids to teach them their father’s (my husband’s) heritage too. 

In some Catholic countries they celebrate the last day before the fasting season of Lent begins as Shrove Tuesday. Poland has its own version of the French Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday), known locally as Tłusty Czwartek, or Fat Thursday. With Lent forbidding sweets and treats, Fat Thursday is a similar celebration of gluttonous indulgence as in other countries,  Poles queue up in lines that sometimes stretch around the corner in order to purchase pastries from the local cukiernia, or bakery.

Poland’s favourite pastries, particularly on Fat Thursday, are pączki – large deep-fried doughnuts typically filled with rose jam (or other marmalades), glazed with sugar, and sometimes topped with candied orange peel.

Well, there’s no need to queue of course when you have a Thermomix.