Everyone in Windsor wants a piece of the paczki

Shrove Tuesday, Fat Tuesday ... whatever you call it, there are boxes of paczki on the tables in many office lunchrooms in Windsor and Detroit.

For some, the idea of taking in that many calories about 450 calories and 25 grams of fat is overwhelming. But the doughnut-likepastries are a tradition in this region.

And one nutritionist told Windsor Morningit's okay to have the Polish treat.

"I think that healthy eating is all about balance," saidAndrea Docherty, a registered dietitianin Windsor. "I don't recommend you have it and then feel guilty about it."

"Eat it, enjoy it and then move on," said Docherty, who said we're generally made to feel there's good and bad foods and to feel bad when you indulge in something not so good.

Doing something different with the dough

At Tony Blak's Union Bakery, he made 500 dozen of a different kind of paczkibaked, not fried.

"We decided we were going to bake them this year instead of fry them," said Blak. "I had some trepidation going forward but it's worked out tremendous."

Blak said 100 per cent of the feedback has been positive, but no one is talking about the calories.

"They do talk about it being a lighter product," said Blak, comparing the baked paczki to light beer.

Frying the paczki is a wet method of cooking, where the doughnut absorbs the oil it's cooking in.

For the baked version of the treat, there's no oil absorbed and the dough may be thicker than traditional paczki.

The Blak family has been making paczki since the early 1900s, frying first in beef tallow, then lard and finally invegetable-based oil.

"Even all-vegetable shortenings increase the number of trans fats," said Blak. "We feel by not frying it, it's a superior product health-wise."

He said he's over 60 now and he has beenwatching his personal calorie intake.

"It's kind of a selfish move."

Doughnuts for dietary restrictions

At Healthy Creations, the store's entire product line is gluten-free so why not the paczki too?

Bakery owner Chris Breckahas two children with celiac disease, so they couldn't indulge in Windsor's favourite Fat Tuesday snack.

"Making paczkis is mostly motivated from that," said Brecka.

She started making them at home, and even though Healthy Creations is a small bakery, production demands were high. She made 3,000 gluten-free paczki.

"You'll have people dancing in line, they're thrilled," said Brecka, who calls "all the people who love her" to come help out on what is the busiest day of the year for her.

They also made vegan paczkithis year, in addition to their gluten-free ones.

The gluten-free versions require a slightly different handling process than traditional paczki. They're still fried, but the dough is more of a pancake-batter texture and is dropped directly into the oil, rather than being formed by hand.

Brecka said the gluten-free version is smaller, which means they have less calories per doughnut. She said customers like the smaller treats, because they can try more flavours.

'Burn off' that paczki

Dochertysaid a paczki compares to two slices of pizza or a few doughnuts from Tim Hortons.

"It's difficult to out-exercise a bad diet," said Docherty. She thinks having to go to the gym to "burn off" the treat is a bad way to look at it."It can be difficult to burn it off. Exercise should be fun and enjoyable."

Check out this CBC Windsor video from 2018 about the exercise equivalent of a paczki:

Paczki Day Workout Tips

6 years ago

Duration 1:16

Check out this video from 2018, where a personal trainer takes us through what it takes to work off the calories from a paczki.

According to Docherty, you should avoid commenting on what other people are eating and if someone wags a finger at you for having a paczki today, ignore them.

Taking a Polish word and turning it into English

The word "paczki"is technically the plural of the Polish word for the doughnut, but you've probably never heard the singular version before.

The singular version is "paczek," which you pronounce "poonch-ek," said Blak.

"In Polish, for a lot of people who end up coming to Canada, they'll take English words and put Polish endings on them," said Blak.

"We've now taken a Polish word and Anglo-phiedit," said Blak.