Lengthy queues grew in front of pastry shops in Warsaw on "Fat Thursday" as Poles bought-up lip-smacking, plump traditional Polish "paczki" ahead of the Christian period of Lent.
"It a great excuse to eat as many doughnuts as you want," Marzena, 31, told AFP."Ten isn't too many today," said Marzena, a Warsaw lawyer who declined to give her surname.
She had been waiting for well over an hour in a 200-person queue in front of a popular shop in the city's swish central Nowy Swiat shopping street.
"It's a very pleasant tradition - but you can't exaggerate and eat to many or there will be serious consequences," said 70-year-old optician Wojtek, adding that queuing on Fat Thursday was a "family tradition."
Instead of having holes in the middle like their North American cousins, Polish "paczki" -- pronounced "ponch-key" -- are ball-like affairs, filled with jam made from wild cherries or rose petals.
Deep-fried in lard and bursting with calories, their light and spongy inside oozes jam, while the crisp golden crust is glazed with icing sugar and candied orange rinds.
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Statistics show the average Pole eats around 2.5 doughnuts on Fat Thursday, translating into more than 500 calories.
Source-AFP
SRM/L
