Joyce’s Supermarkets has joined the upcoming celebrations for the annual Polish ‘Fat Thursday’ tradition, which takes place on February 24. From this week, selected stores across Galway will be stocking up on a range of delicious Polish stuffed doughnuts, known as paczki, to mark the occasion.
The team at Joyce’s are encouraging Galway natives to join in on the Fat Thursday tradition. The longstanding holiday takes place on the last Thursday before Ash Wednesday and is dedicated to indulging in large quantities of rich, sugary, foods not usually consumed during Lent, particularly doughnuts.
Across Poland, it is common for bakery queues to stretch around the street with people meeting with friends and family to enjoy sugary treats, which are fried rounds of glazed yeast dough often filled with rose-flavoured jam, but many recipe variants exist. Folklore even suggests that abstaining from eating these sweet pastries will bring bad luck, so unsurprisingly, the average person in Poland consumes three ‘paczki’ every Fat Thursday.
Aisling Joyce, director of operations at Joyce’s Supermarkets, said: “We are delighted to be participating in this annual Polish tradition by stocking up on a delicious range of paczki from Soho Bake House. We are proud to offer a wide range of authentic international foods to help our customers to celebrate global traditions at home. We look forward to celebrating with our customers this week.”
The festive treats will be available in store in Joyce’s Athenry, Oranmore, Fr Griffin Road, Knocknacarra, Headford, Doughiska, and Ballybane.
The team at Joyce’s are also gearing up for Pancake Tuesday on March 1, and have dedicated a section in stores to help customers to stock up on their favourite pancake ingredients and toppings before the big day.
