Pączki Day--do Dunkin Donuts or Krispy Kreme count?

It's (for many in the US, at least) Pączki Day, so I thought I'd ask your opinions on a question that I've heard debated since my childhood: "do the filled doughnuts sold by the Dunkin Donuts (or Krispy Kreme) doughnut store chain count as pączki?" I've heard vehement arguments both for and against; what do you think?

For anyone new to Poland and browsing the forum, the OP is probably referring to the Polish tradition of "Fat Thursday" which is the last Thurs of the month of Feb. It's traditional to eat doughnuts/donuts on that day or other sweet or fattening things.

I had a rose jam filled doughnut. Interesting but not a patch on Sainsbury's jam-filled loose doughnuts last time I tried one.

With Lent starting tomorrow for religious people, sales and consumption of doughnuts was markedly up on Thursday and probably today.

Yes, though the custom is observed on the day before Ash Wednesday (the first day of Lent) in much of Polonia in the US. I've often heard the opinion that the doughnut chain stores' doughnuts aren't authentic enough to the traditional form of a "true" pączki.

Well, this is going to seem unbelievable but I've never had a Dunkin' Donut or Krispy Kreme etc etc. From what I recall of seeing them being eaten by others, they have icing or fancy choc finishes. The doughnuts here are similar to British ones but slightly bigger. They are traditional in appearance, soft and mostly without icing, a sugary coating, but sometimes some decent jam in the middle which squirts down my white shirt when I least expect it. Of course, fancy specimens can be found, but they're not the ones typically seen around office desks on FT.

Agreed, but I always thought that Pączki were traditionally filled with Marmalade.
The many home made ones I ate last Thursday were :)

I'd no such luck as home-made ones. Yes, I think I heard something about marmalade ones too, but I got a shop-made rose jam example, which was interesting shall we say!

I haven't tried Dunkin Donuts but I've tried Krispy Kreme before. I think the soft dough in a Krispy Kreme donut is similar to the soft dough of paczki, but Krispy Kreme donuts are much sweeter. I think paczki has less sugar than a regular donut.

No, it's not. It is the Thursday before Ash Wednesday, and can fall in January, February or March, depending on the date of Easter.

Thank you for correcting me. I wasn't previously aware it was actually tied to Ash Wednesday, I'd thought it was just a happy coincidence as FT is taken as a bit of fun when as AW is of course an official religious date in the calendar based on when Easter falls.

By the by but something I didn't know:

Do you have to give something up for Lent starting on Ash Wednesday?

While it's encouraged by some Christian denominations to give up something for the duration of Lent, it is by no means an obligation, at least for Catholics. Aside from abstaining from meat on Fridays during lent, and fasting on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, Catholics are not required or forced to give up anything on Ash Wednesday or the duration of Lent.

It seems Ash Wednesday falls 46 days* before Easter, and the date of Easter varies, so:
Why does the date of Easter vary by more than a month?

Because the ancient Egyptians and Hebrews used different calendars. The Egyptians had one based on the movement of the sun, which was passed on through the Romans and Christian culture to become the modern world's standard. The Jews had one based on the phases of the moon - as Islam does, which is why the month of Ramadan moves round the calendar and takes places at different times of the year each year, with Muslims waiting for sightings of the moon before they know what day it will begin.

Easter is one of the festivals which tries to harmonise the solar and lunar calendars. As a general rule, Easter falls on the first Sunday, following the first full moon after 21 March. But not always.

I've gone some way off topic or so it would seem, but was not previously aware that by eating a doughnut on FT I would be, in some way at least, participating in AW!

*While Lent is 40 days, Sundays are not included in the count.There are six Sundays that fall within the 40 days of Lent, so Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent, falls 46 days before Easter every year.

That's only currently. In times past, Catholics were forbidden to eat meat, foul, fat, eggs and dairy products, not only for Lent, but for advent as well. At one time, it was forbidden to eat anything at all between sunrise and sunset (like the Moslem Rammadan fast). The doughnuts/pancakes are about using up all the fat and eggs before the fast, Easter eggs and ham are about being allowed to eat them for the first time in seven weeks, and the St. Martin's day Goose was the last time you could eat meat before Christmas day. Plus no singing, dancing, entertainment of any sort, colorful clothes, musical instruments and just about any kind of fun was allowed during this period, which is why carnevals like Mardis Gras, and in Poznań, St. Martin's Day, were such big deals. Even statues, pictures and mirrors had to be put away or covered with dark cloth, even at home. Bells could not be rung. In church, a wooden clapper was used instead of communion bells during Lent.

Overtime, the rules got laxer and laxer.

All of this information is so interesting in this thread. Why were so many things forbidden in the past during Lent? What was the purpose, or what were people trying to achieve? I've never heard about the covering up of mirrors before. Wow.

@DominicB
A great history, and as Cindy says:


Seconded!

Lent was the time to repent for your sins and do penance, and to mortify yourself (make yourself "dead" to the world) by sacrificing the things you like and exposing yourself to things you don't like. Self-flagellation and kneeling in the snow in front of the church or in an open grave for days on end were not uncommon practices. Mirrors were considered a sign of vanity and pride, which are two of the seven deadly sins, as well as a "graven image" of sorts. Like I said, even statues, pictures and crosses in church were covered up or removed.

They were commemorating Jesus's forty-day-long fast in the desert.

It's fascinating what people did in times past. Thanks again for this insight. I'm not sure whether modern times through enlightenment make for gentler and more humane treatment of one another, or less. Perhaps I need to read more history to truly compare, but I like to think we're less barbaric to one another now on this planet, although doubtless the Holocaust and more recent genocides would probably put a lot of doubt on this.

Anyway, back to the doughnuts. I'm enjoying one (sorry, not a Catholic) while reading some of Cindy's pages. Although I'm not her target audience, the book holds a reader's attention:


And if you want to know what happens next, you'll have to download the book -- or promise me a doughnut!

(Nie nie nie, I won't really do a spoiler, Cindy, don't fret!)

Biedronka has a chocolate covered doughnut which is very close to the ones sold by Krispy Kreme. I've had the plain Krispy Kreme doughnuts hot many times in the US and I must say they are delicious - something to try at least once. The stores have signs outside which let you know when a fresh batch is ready. And many times they will even give free samples.

I'll try it, although not in front of my Lent-observant Polish companions !

I hope Biedronka's doesn't contain palm oil (olej palmowy) as palm oil is controversial to say the least
saynotopalmoil.com/palm-oil.php

I've now almost completelt cut out palm oil products from my weekly shop. It isn't too difficult.

As much as I dislike Carrefour, their own brand crisps seem to have veg oil, not palm, so I always buy my crisps there.

Not really heard it as Paczki day . But Dunkin Donuts is more about cake donuts..are not Polish donuts more like Krispy Kreme , not commercial as?

My Bohemian Catholic grandparents had stronger traditions about food that I adhere casually to, though. And gobbling down a kind of donut before Lent was part of that. And weird 'blessed' Easter cheesecake that my (ex) Russian In laws also made ( I wish I was not so ham-handed making Baba's pelmini..yum).

In later days I usually have fresh made type pastries from local Mexican bakery for jelly donuts and conchas.
Here in podunk the nearest bakery of any sort for 40 miles is in grocery store. I got a box of Krispy Creme.
This week I made & froze tons of pierogi with potatoes /onions or mushrooms/spices to eat for my light fasting until Palm Sunday. I have fish for some of the weeks and Fridays.

@InWroclaw The next time you return to the UK you should visit a Krispy Kreme. I saw that they have stores there now.

krispykreme.co.uk

Only if you can't get the real thing.


Many are - rose marmalade ones are nice. Some are filled with custard, Nutella etc.
.

All of that sounds so harsh, but interesting, though. It's odd that everything was permissible the rest of the year.


lol. Thank you. It's a Polish bakery and paczki is mentioned throughout the story.


There's an international bakery in Los Angeles, which I saw on TV a few days ago, that makes "ponchik", which is similar to paczki. They fill it with Nutella. It's Papillon International Bakery. The reporter who tried it seemed to enjoy it.

I have a question for anyone. What is the correct pronunciation for paczki? I've always pronounced it something like PAHNCH-kee, but others say it's PAUNCH-kee or PONCH-kee. I've even heard PATZ-kee. I did a search on the forum and found no results.

I had real pączki from Crest Foods the other day, it said it on the box and everything, and they are a little different than just a jelly filled doughnut. They seem lighter or something. These had either raspberry or strawberry filling and powdered sugar. I would think with this name on the box they are the real deal?

The Polish church in Yorba Linda , has their Polish-style donuts especially ordered for festivals, from a local donut shop. The shop owners are Asian. The donuts actually taste quite good.

Hi beckski,
Do you know the name of the donut shop?

The church always sell the Polish donuts at their bake sale for $1.00 each. Don't know the name of the shop, where the donuts are made. I believe they might be located on Imperial Hwy.

Thanks, beckski. I think I know which one it is then.

I found out that Polka Deli in Orange, CA makes paczki for Paczki Day, but they have to be ordered beforehand.

It's come early this year.

I said I wouldn't have any pączki due to a healthy eating kick.

Then I said I'd maybe have one, just for the sake of it.

Now we've got a box of 16....

Same here jon, they just came to the stores here last week.
I pull my mask up over my eyes and walk right past them to the fresh produce department.
Three of those and a pot of coffee use to be my breakfast thirty years ago.
Now, I wouldn't touch one on a bet.

Do they really have Krispy Kreme donuts in Poland?

They do make good donuts from what I can remember. I dont really eat sweets that often. Theyre better than dunking donuts, dont eat there!

I've never seen them here. The first I saw were in America and the Middle East.

There was a Dunkin' Donuts that opened in Warsaw Station, I went there to see what it was like (this was maybe 18 or 19 years ago) and there weren't many people there. You can get a pączek doughnut for only a few pence (and people like that kind a lot here) so buying several of a different kind of doughnut for a lot more money and sitting down to eat them didn't really appeal to the market here.

A quick look online suggests that the last one vanished from Warsaw in 2018 because the franchisee couldn't make money on it.

There are local specialist doughnut chains like Stara Pączkarnia and MOD, however every bakery in Poland sells plenty of them too.

Its has to be just as bad as the ones owned by Patel over here. I looked through the back door once and seen the guy making donuts. He was hovering over the table as the sweat was pouring off his head in the dough while he was rolling them out. How about new flavor....Sweaty Donut! lol


Ive always like th ePolish version better. Its less sugar and more cake than those ones filled with creme.