While the rest of Christiandom will celebrate Fat Tuesday next week, with jambalaya, po’ boys, and plastic beads, our Eastern European friends will be scarfing down paczki (pronounced poonch-key), tasty little fried cakes stuffed with rich, fruity fillings.
According to tradition, paczki-making served as a way to use up fats and sweets before the onset of Lent, which arrives on Wednesday. Nowadays, though, the puffy little doughnuts are mainly a delicious excuse for cold-weather diet-busting. …
This article appears in Jan 30 – Feb 5, 2008.