Fat Tuesday is Feb. 17, and that means bakeries across Northeast Ohio are working hard to create a signature treat for the occasion: Paczki.
Paczki (which is pronounced POONCH-key, in case you’re wondering) is a Polish baked good that’s made from a dough that’s fried and usually filled with a sweet filling. While it has devotees across Northeast Ohio, it's especially important to the region’s Polish population, said Leslie Srodek-Johnson, a Polish American baker who manages Stan’s Northfield Bakery.
“Polish people, they don't like to waste anything, and that's kind of a thing that happens with the Paczki,” Srodek-Johnson said. “You don't want to waste everything. You want to clean out your cabinets so none of your hard work and none of your hard-earned money go to waste.”
Paczki has existed since the Middle Ages and was once a savory food, according to the Farmer’s Almanac.
Despite its similarities to donuts, Srodek-Johnson said, Paczki has major differences; alcohol is used in the dough to keep the inside firm and protect it from becoming too greasy. The dough also has more butter and eggs, giving it a richer texture.
Paczki’s cultural significance is tied to Lent, when many Christians fast from certain foods, such as sweets, beginning with Ash Wednesday and leading up through the Thursday before Easter. In preparation for the fast, Srodek-Johnson said Polish residents, the majority of whom are Catholic, take ingredients and sweets which would go bad during the season and fry them into a last indulgence before the Lent fast begins. For this reason, Paczki is traditionally eaten in the U.S. on Fat Tuesday or on the Thursday before Ash Wednesday in Poland, Srodek-Johnson said.
The variations of Paczki have grown in recent decades, said Kristian Campana, who runs the website Ohio Festivals and compiles a yearly list of bakeries selling Paczki across the region.
Cleveland once boasted a vibrant Polish community; around 35,000 Polish Americans once lived in the city, according to Case Western Reserve University’s Encyclopedia of Cleveland History, most of them arriving before the end of WW1. Many lived in the Slavic Village neighborhood, where several Polish cultural institutions are still located.
While the Cleveland’s Polish population has since declined, over 69,000 residents with Polish-ancestry still reside in Cuyahoga County as of 2024, according to data from the American Community Survey.
The Youngstown-Warren area also had a sizable Polish population, with many working in the area’s then-abundant steel mills, according to Marta Mazur, who owns Krakus Polish Deli and Bakery in Boardman. She immigrated to the US in 1981.
“A lot of people after World War II came here for economic reasons, to work in the mills,” Mazur said. That's how they came out here. So, my husband's family actually after World War II, settled here.”
Originally settling in Yonkers, New York, Mazur came to the Mahoning Valley in 2009; Her parents had moved there around a decade earlier.
Many Polish residents, she said, have moved from the region, but active organizations still exist preserving the legacy of Slavic groups in the area, including Poles.
“There's still some people that came directly from Poland but most of the community that's out here is second and third generation,” Mazur said, “So I do have a lot of people who are coming into the store and they're kind of talking about, ‘oh, visiting my grandma's house. I still remember it smells just like my grandma house.’”
