Celebrating Fat Tuesday with Hamtramck paczki
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Sam eating a paczek in Winfield Park. Photos: Samuel Robinson/Axios
Sam here. Did you guys know I'm Polish?
Why it matters: On Fat Tuesday, I naturally excused myself from healthy choices for a Polish tradition — paczki (pronounced PONCH-key) from the Family Donut Shop in Hamtramck.
State of play: This is just my second-ever paczek — after eating my first on Fat Tuesday in 2021, I decided it was probably wise to take a break for a while. But it's just as soft and sugary as I remember.
The intrigue: I'm told my ancestors come from northern Poland, among many other places — at least according to my mom and genealogy results that claim I'm 22% Eastern European/Russian.
Zoom in: Eater put together this helpful list of local businesses selling paczki this week.
- Hamtramck, which hosted the 12th annual Paczki Run over the weekend, has become Metro Detroit's hub for the powdered sugar-topped treats, with bakeries opening early to crowds looking for paczki by the box.
Flashback: Watch the moment I bit into my first paczek three years ago in Ypsilanti — shoutout to Dom's Bakeries.
