Paczki Day: Ann Arbor leads country in Google searches for jelly-filled pastries
Ann Arbor is at the top of Google's list of U.S. cities using the search engine for paczki information on Fat Tuesday.
From MLive.com
The city, in fact, leads all regions of the country in Google searches today for paczki, according to the search engine's web analytics. Southfield, Detroit, Troy and Chicago also are generating plenty of paczki searches.
Paczki Day, which annually coincides with Fat Tuesday, is a local celebration involving excessive consumption of fat, jelly-filled Polish pastries.
It's the kind of polarizing day in which office mates invariably declare their admiration or disgust for the high-calorie items.
Even those who previously spurned the pastries can become susceptible to their sticky allure. Gourmet food destination Zingerman's, which had previously never made paczki, accepted preorders and originally planned to produce 100 paczki for individual sale today.
However, due to surging demand, Zingerman's ended up making about 500, an associate said.
Unfortunately for those Ann Arborites searching Google for paczki options, they were almost gone as of 11:45 a.m. Just a few dozen left. So sorry.
Still looking?
Better get back on that Google search to track down your very own paczki before it's too late.
Google's search trends show regional hotspots for interest in paczki, the jelly-filled Polish pastry.
Edward Vielmetti | AnnArbor.com
Contact AnnArbor.com's Nathan Bomey at (734) 623-2587 or nathanbomey@annarbor.com. You can also follow him on Twitter or subscribe to AnnArbor.com's newsletters.
Comments
hsgidley
Fri, Mar 11, 2011 : 2:12 a.m.
Copernicus market on South Main in A2 has the best paczki's around. Traditional flavors including prune and rose hips. Awesome! Oh, for a continued Polish fix, don't pass up their perogies!
snoopdog
Wed, Mar 9, 2011 : 2:07 p.m.
Had two of em yesterday from the Milan Bakery, a blueberry and a raspberry. I hate myself this morning , need to walk about 10 miles to "burn em off". It is the only day of the year I eat donuts, we all know they are just higher calorie donuts. Good Day
breadman
Wed, Mar 9, 2011 : 2:11 a.m.
All they are is over stuffed jelly filled bismarks. And for fat Tuesday make more flavors than the regular kind raspberry, strawberry. custard, ect.... Happy Eating! I think I will go to Wendy's for some sea salt frunch fries!!! So how you got fat for Tuesday! What are you going to cut from your diet (fasting) for the lent season? Only have fourty five days. Good for the waist line!!!! Ends good friday!!!
Urban Sombrero
Wed, Mar 9, 2011 : 2:03 a.m.
@Andy Jacobs---- (I can't figure out how to reply to your reply!!!) I don't care about the nutrition. French Fries are a little slice of heaven. Calories and fat be darned.
Marlajay
Wed, Mar 9, 2011 : 1:09 a.m.
I bought mine at Whole Foods, decadent with chocolate filling; it was delicious!
UM owns
Tue, Mar 8, 2011 : 11:31 p.m.
No suggestions on where to find the best paczki (outside of Hamtramck)? Out of Dexter bakery / zingermans / buschs / kroger, is one better than the rest?
Soothslayer
Wed, Mar 9, 2011 : 1:07 a.m.
Dexter by far
Urban Sombrero
Tue, Mar 8, 2011 : 11:01 p.m.
My husband loves paczkis. He'd sell a kidney to get them year around. I think they're nasty. But, I don't like donuts, either, so I'm probably biased. I'd rather have French fries, if I'm going to be bad...
Soothslayer
Wed, Mar 9, 2011 : 1:05 a.m.
french fries are worse for you than paczis in caloric density, saturated fats and sodium. <a href="http://caloriecount.about.com/calories-french-fries-i21138" rel='nofollow'>http://caloriecount.about.com/calories-french-fries-i21138</a> and <a href="http://www.livestrong.com/thedailyplate/nutrition-calories/food/generic/paczki/" rel='nofollow'>http://www.livestrong.com/thedailyplate/nutrition-calories/food/generic/paczki/</a>
zeeba
Tue, Mar 8, 2011 : 10:15 p.m.
I have no objections to high-fat, unhealthy foods - but paczki are just gross. The pastry is just too dense and the filling/pastry ratio is way too high. I've been paczki-free for three years and am proud of it!
zeeba
Wed, Mar 9, 2011 : 2:08 p.m.
Andy - you missed my point. I'm not complaining that they're unhealthy, I'm complaining that they're nasty. I don't even want to eat one-eighth of one, let alone half.
Soothslayer
Wed, Mar 9, 2011 : 1:01 a.m.
Once a year is perfectly fine and you could sprinkle them with wheat germ if you like or... dare I say, even cut one in half (ZOMG)!. They are just like doughnuts (also a pretty rare treat) and Dexter Bakery has the best in the land. We've tried them all and its well worth the extra hour of cardio per (about 500 cal).
djm12652
Tue, Mar 8, 2011 : 7:20 p.m.
paczki day? Seriously? I've been eating them for as long as I can remember...back into the 50's! It is a heritage thing folks...look it up! But, of course A2 will take credit for it, like Poles haven't been eating them for centuries....
John B.
Tue, Mar 8, 2011 : 8:47 p.m.
What exactly is Ann Arbor taking credit for (in your universe)?
Mumbambu, Esq.
Tue, Mar 8, 2011 : 8:39 p.m.
All the "Polish" will remember they are actually "Irish" in a couple weeks. :)
djm12652
Tue, Mar 8, 2011 : 7:18 p.m.
smaczne!
Mumbambu, Esq.
Tue, Mar 8, 2011 : 6:41 p.m.
Nathan and Ed, I don't think it's necessarily correct to say Ann Arbor leads the nation in Paczki searches. Google normalizes the trends/insight numbers by region. While the insight data shows us that the Ann Arbor area has the highest interest relative to normal search volume, I don't THINK it's correct to assume the actual search volume is higher than any other parcticular area, although it might be the case. Google doesn't hand out exact search data. There are a host of caveats that come with it. That being said...the stuff is fascinating. It's also cool to look at the search over time. It seems you can see the brain drain of young Michiganders moving to Chicago and New York but remembering to google paczki each year.
Nathan Bomey
Tue, Mar 8, 2011 : 7:24 p.m.
@Mumbambu, Esq. Yes, the data can be parsed many ways. But a Google spokesman says, in an e-mail: "The region in the ENTIRE country with the MOST paczki-related searches is" Ann Arbor.
MjC
Tue, Mar 8, 2011 : 6:03 p.m.
"The city, in fact, leads all regions of the country in Google searches today for paczki" I only used google because I couldn't remember how to spell paczk... those big fat jelly donuts sure are good though!