The SouthCoast Needs To Start This Fat Tuesday Tradition

Forget the King Cakes and gumbo for Fat Tuesday. Clearly the SouthCoast needs to take a page out of Hawaii's handbook when it comes to the start of Lent.

The day before Ash Wednesday has long been a day of people gorging themselves on all the foods, drinks and desserts they will presumably be giving up for the religious observance. Hence the name, Fat Tuesday.

Yet the day has another name all together out on the islands of Hawaii. There, Fat Tuesday is a holiday known as Malasada Day.

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How Hawaii has a holiday known as Malasada Day and Massachusetts does not is kind of a stumper.

Think about it, malasadas originated in Portugal. They are often called "Portuguese fried dough." And yet the U.S. state with the second-largest Portuguese population in the country has no Malasada Day? But the state 8th on that list does?

We clearly need to make a change, Massachusetts, and start eating more malasadas on Fat Tuesday.

That is, after all, the tasty treat's origins. Folks in the Azores and Madeira would make malasadas on a Tuesday with the purpose of using up the home's lard and sugar before Lent began.

The Catholic tradition was somehow brought to Hawaii when the Portuguese went to work the sugarcane plantations there, yet did not become a Massachusetts tradition when the fisherman came to work here. Perhaps because the sugar that covers the traditional malasada was so plentiful out there, they were easier to make in the winter months than they would have been here.

Whatever the reason, I think it's time to make a change. The SouthCoast bakeries need to step up and start making Malasada Day a thing.

So, who's got malasadas for sale today?