Poles’ enormous consumption of doughnuts this week – in an annual tradition known as Fat Thursday (tłusty czwartek) – will be much more expensive than usual due to soaring inflation, note analysts at Bank BNP Paribas.
On the last Thursday before entering the Lent period of abstinence, Poles eat huge numbers of pączki (deep-fried doughnuts, often filled with jam) as well as faworki (thin, crisp pastries powdered with sugar).
A study by SW Research in 2017 found that Poles consume over 100 million doughnuts on Fat Thursday – an average of more than 2.5 per person. Only 4% of people surveyed said they would not eat one. Every year, the most popular bakeries see huge queues form throughout the day.
Today is #TlustyCzwartek #FatThursday, when Poles stuff themselves full of pączki (doughnuts).
Huge queues form outside then best bakeries, including this one in Warsaw that stretches around three corners pic.twitter.com/WKZSjHwrS2
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) February 28, 2019
This year, however, annual inflation has been running at over 16% since August, its highest level in a quarter of a century. Energy and food prices – both of which impact the cost of doughnuts – have been particularly affected.
BNP Paribas’s analysts note that the cost of ingredients for doughnuts is around 20-30% higher than a year ago. Sugar prices in particular have surged: they are up by 105%, finds the bank, while flour has risen 12%, eggs by 55% and milk by 12-20%.
“Added to this are the rising costs of labour, packaging, transport and, above all, energy, which is vital for the industry,” says the bank’s Weronika Szymańska.
With inflation at a 25-year high of over 17%, Poles are looking to cut costs this Christmas, with many businesses feeling the effects, writes @AlicjaPtak4 from Gdynia's market halls https://t.co/GIWPpF2kJ9
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) December 21, 2022
As a result, the bank expects doughnuts to cost around 4-5 zloty each (between 0.8 and 1 euro) in normal bakeries, rising to over 10 zloty for more artisan creations. But they note that discount supermarkets may be offering the pastries for as little as 1 zloty.
Budget chain Lidl is indeed offering a 0.89 zloty pączek, though that is 37% more expensive than its cheapest offer of 0.65 zloty last year. The more upmarket Auchan supermarket is advertising its cheapest doughnuts for between 2 zloty and 2.50 zloty, up from 1.29 zloty to 1.39 zloty last year.
A popular bakery in Kraków, Cukiernia Cichowscy, is offering its pączki filled with rose jam for 5.50 zloty. Warsaw’s famous Pracownia Cukiernicza “Zagoździński”, which sees huge queues every Fat Thursday, is selling large doughnuts for 4.50 zloty each – up from 3 zloty just two years ago.
Main image credit: Silar/Wikimedia Commons (under CC BY-SA 3.0)
Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.
