The two most popular treats are thick Polish doughnuts called "pącki" (PAWNch-key) and "faworki" (fah-VOR-key) or "angel wings", traditional sweet crisp pastry shaped into thin twisted ribbons and sprinkled with powdered sugar.
The demand for pącki on Fat Thursday is so high that bakers and confectioners open in the early hours of the morning, after a marathon night of frying doughnuts. People queue outside the bakeries, and wait times are quite long throughout the day. A representative from one of Poland's most famous bakeries - Blikle - estimates that demand for pącki is twenty times higher on Fat Thursday than on an ordinary day. Statistics from the past few years suggest that close to 100 million doughnuts (and many hundreds of kilograms of faworki) are eaten on Fat Thursday. That's at least 2.5 doughnuts for every Pole. According to a home broker in Warsaw, the money spent by Poles on Fat Thursday delicacies on Fat Thursday would buy 200 apartments of 50 square meters in Warsaw.
On a related note, last week the first Dunkin Donuts in Warsaw opened (to much fanfare, see image) a block or two from where I study Polish.Thinking myself wise, I stopped by after class on Wednesday to pick up some doughnuts to enjoy on Fat Thursday. But there were no more donuts! You heard that right folks. Dunkin Donuts ran out of donuts, possibly for the first time ever, on the eve of Fat Thursday in Warsaw.
Anyway, take some time to enjoy a donut (or two!) before Ash Wednesday next week. You'll be in good company!
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