Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Life In The Fastnacht Lane




Happy Fastnacht Day! For those of you who don't what it is, Fastnacht Day is generally a Pennsylvania Dutch thang, and is the day before Lent starts, with it's historical roots going back to Germany. (AKA "Fat Tuesday" for my Mardi Gras peeps.) Fastnacht literally means donut, so the day before Lent (the day you begin fasting), people would rid their kitchens and pantries of the things to be given up for Lent- most often sugar and fats (lard) were kicked to the curb. So in a rush to get their last kicks in, deep-fried donuts were made and scarfed down on tuesday.

I'm sure there's a lot more to it than my pathetic little explanation, but this is what I remember from being a kid, when my Mom would make homemade donuts in an electric deep fryer that sat on the counter and I swear to all things holy they were the best damn donuts I ever ate in my whole entire life. (Screw you Krispy Kreme, you ain't got nothin' on lard-fried donuts in a 1970's deep fat fryer!) I could Google the background of Fastnacht Day, but that just means, like, effort and fact-checking, and that's just not how we roll around here. So the details are a bit sketchy and incomplete. But whatevs. Any excuse to eat donuts is fine with me! And if you don't eat at least one donut today, the terrorists win.


I wasn't even planning on looking for any donut-themed vintage to share, because when have you ever in your whole life seen any 50's donut novelty print dresses laying around? That's right, homies- never. But shock and surprise, while it's not exactly a to-die dress, I did find this cutesy little Vintage 50's Doughnut Ladies Folksy Table Runner, currently available on Etsy.



The pictures are crap, but can you make out the cute, plump folksy women in their cute, folksy kitchen making cute, folksy polka-dotty donuts? Also: I swear on a stack of fastnachts I'll never use the word "folksy" again.

8 comments:

  1. Folksy fun for the whole family!! Happy Fastnacht Day to you and yours!!

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  2. I can't believe you found a folksy Fastnacht table runner! My neighbors growing up were originally from Lancaster, and they always made Fastnachts on Fat Tuesday. I miss them...

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  3. A fabulous fantastic folksy Fastnacht Day to you too! I went to college in Kutztown, PA and on "Fat Tuesday", the campus was overrun by fastnachts, er, I mean donuts... and were they yum-alicious!

    I need a donut...

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  4. Wow fun AND educational, you are all things to all people! I've never heard of Fastnacht but then I am english so I guess I wouldn't have!

    Anyway that's my bit of education for the year!

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  5. Happy Fastnacht Day to you to or as we Brits have over here Happy Pancake Day!

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  6. Oh shit I didn't eat my fastnachts today! I saw them floating around work but I didn't get a chance to grab one! Damn, terrorists!

    MaryD

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  7. Nice little history lesson. Ya learn somethin' new every day! I'm a sucker for vintage donut stuff. Nice post!!

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  8. You just sent me on another doughnut kick. I too have wonderful memories of 70s deep fat fryer donuts and decided I would make my own. I have tried a few recipes but just cant get em right. I will have to start again!

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