Paczki Day: Why people in Chicago celebrate this day dedicated to a Polish dessert
Many of you might know about Lent, a period ahead of Easter, that traditionally involves temporary abstinence from certain food and pleasures such as consuming meat, alcohol or smoking. It is a way for Christians to honour Jesus and their ancestors right before the celebration and feast of Easter. Now, the last Tuesday before the onset of Lent is regarded as Fat Tuesday as it is the final day to eat all sorts of fat until Easter.
While the whole world prepares for Fat Tuesday by indulging in different kinds of meaty and other fatty food items, the U.S. city of Chicago gets busy making a Polish dessert called paczki. In fact, instead of called it Fat Tuesday, they often tag the occasion as Paczki Day. Wondering why an American city celebrates Fat Tuesday with a Polish dessert? Well, so are we! Come, let us find out together.
What is paczki exactly?
Simply put, paczki is a type of doughnut. Here’s how it is made. At first, a paczek or a deep-fried piece of dough (both richer and denser in comparison to other doughs of doughnuts) is made and then shaped into flattened balls. Then these balls are filled with a fruit (usually peach) stewed in thick syrup (something like a jam or a marmalade). Once ready, these are once again fried in boiling oil and finally served with powdered sugar, some icing and dried orange zests. What’s interesting is that a grain alcohol is added to the dough before cooking, in order to prevent too much oil flow inside. The dessert is moderately fluffy. Nowadays, stewed plum jam and wild rose petal jam are considered to be popular fillings for paczki.
As for its origin, paczki was first made in Poland during the rule of King Augustus III who was fond of French food and thus imported French chefs for his royal kitchen. It was there that one of the French cooks developed a lighter and spongier dessert to impress the king, which was in sharp contrast to the traditional Polish dessert oponki, which was hard-textured.
The Chicago connect
In Poland, ahead of Lent, paczki is widely eaten on Fat Thursday, the last Thursday before Lent to indulge in fat-based foods. Now, the Polish people primarily made paczki for the occasion because they had to finish all the sugar, eggs, butter, vanilla and milk that were stored in the house as consuming them was considered a luxury and thus forbidden by Christian fasting practices associated with Lent.
Now, majority of the Polish immigrants in the USA are spread across Chicago, and some in Detroit and Buffalo. But in order to keep up with the American culture, they had to combine their own into it. So, instead of preparing and eating paczki on just Fat Thursday like their Polish ancestors, the Polish-Americans now do the same on both the days, i.e., Fat Tuesday and Fat Thursday. In fact, they quite enjoy the newly-formed tradition and together call both the days Paczki Day.
History suggests that outside the Polish capital Warsaw, it is Chicago that has the highest number of Polish people since the 20th century. Not only that, the city is also considered as the capital of Polonia, which is the name of Polish diaspora outside Poland. As a result, Chicago celebrates Paczki Day with much ardour. Maybe that is why, the greatest number of paczkis in the world are also made across Chicago bakeries, which are often consumed locally or imported.
Polish settlement in Chicago
The Polish people first moved to Chicago around 1830s following which there was a wave of immigration. Why? Because, back then, Poland was invaded by Russia and there was an acute shortage of food amidst economic crisis. Why they chose to move to Chicago is unknown, but historians believe that back then, Chicago was one of the most leading job hubs in the world and the Polish people made their way to this US city just to earn themselves their daily bread. Gradually, a Polish community developed across the city and for many years they didn’t want to wholeheartedly accept the American life. But in the 20th century, in between two World Wars, they realised that moving back to Poland may not be the best possible option. So, they stayed back and embraced a Polish-American life, one major aspect of which is the Paczki Day.
Today, majority of the Chicago bakeries are either owned or co-owned by the Polish population who widely celebrate Paczki Day. Interestingly, it is outside Chicago, where an annual Paczki Day parade happens. Where? The place with the second largest Polish-American population, aka Detroit. Paczki eating contests are a major part of the parade. Interesting, isn’t it?