Doughnut: A Global History

129 Pages·2015·3.24 MB·English

by  Heather Delancey Hunwick

DOUGHNUT
Edible
Series Editor: Andrew F. Smith
EDIBLE is a revolutionary series of books dedicated to food and drink that explores the rich history of
cuisine. Each book reveals the global history and culture of one type of food or beverage.
Already published
Apple Erika Janik Barbecue Jonathan Deutsch and Megan J. Elias Beef Lorna Piatti-Farnell Beer Gavin D.
Smith Brandy Becky Sue Epstein Bread William Rubel Cake Nicola Humble Caviar Nichola Fletcher
Champagne Becky Sue Epstein Cheese Andrew Dalby Chocolate Sarah Moss and Alexander Badenoch
Cocktails Joseph M. Carlin Curry Colleen Taylor Sen Dates Nawal Nasrallah Doughnut Heather Hunwick
Dumplings Barbara Gallani Eggs Diane Toops Figs David C. Sutton Game Paula Young Lee Gin Lesley
Jacobs Solmonson Hamburger Andrew F. Smith Herbs Gary Allen Hot Dog Bruce Kraig Ice Cream Laura
B.
Weiss Lamb Brian Yarvin Lemon Toby Sonneman Lobster Elisabeth Townsend Milk Hannah Velten
Mushroom Cynthia D. Bertelsen Nuts Ken Albala Offal Nina Edwards Olive Fabrizia Lanza Oranges
Clarissa Hyman Pancake Ken Albala Pie Janet Clarkson Pineapple Kaori O’ Connor Pizza Carol Helstosky
Pork Katharine M. Rogers Potato Andrew F. Smith Pudding Jeri Quinzio Rice Renee Marton Rum Richard
Foss Salmon Nicolaas Mink Sandwich Bee Wilson Sauces Maryann Tebben Sausage Gary Allen Soup Janet
Clarkson Spices Fred Czarra Sugar Andrew F. Smith Tea Helen Saberi Tequila Ian Williams Truffle
Zachary Nowak Vodka Patricia Herlihy Water Ian Miller Whiskey Kevin R. Kosar Wine Marc Millon
Doughnut
A Global History
Heather Delancey Hunwick
REAKTION BOOKS
Published by Reaktion Books Ltd
33 Great Sutton Street
London EC1V 0DX, UK
www.reaktionbooks.co.uk
First published 2015
Copyright © Heather Delancey Hunwick 2015
All rights reserved
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by
any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of
the publishers Page references in the Photo Acknowledgements and
Index match the printed edition of this book.
Printed and bound in China by Toppan Printing Co. Ltd A catalogue record for this book is available from
the British Library eISBN: 9781780235356
Contents
1 The Doughnut Defined
2 The Historical Doughnut
3 The American Doughnut
4 The Imperial Doughnut
5 The Cultural Doughnut
Recipes
References
Select Bibliography
Websites and Associations
Acknowledgements
Photo Acknowledgements
Index

1
The Doughnut Defined
The doughnut properly belongs alongside such iconic foods as pancakes, ice
cream, pies and cakes, sharing with them a long and very rich global history as
well as contemporary universality. This most beloved street food, road food,
holiday food, home food and comfort food carries powerful social and cultural
messages: from bumper stickers to carnival stands and to religious and other
celebrations around the world. And around the world, piled on to the humble
doughnut, we find much, often dramatically varied, interpretation and meaning,
even tension. Exploring and unravelling the story of the doughnut through the
ages and around the world makes us reflect more broadly on our complex and
ambiguous feelings about food, globalization and culture. So while this book
will delve deep into the doughnut story, including exploring the moral and other
conflicts it has engendered, it will also proudly and unashamedly celebrate this
remarkable contribution to pleasurable eating.
In an episode of The Simpsons, a runaway train is saved from destruction
when it runs into a great pile of doughnuts. As Homer puts it: ‘Doughnuts: is
there anything they can’t do?’ It would be remiss, here at the outset, to do other
than acknowledge that the is currently the world’s doughnut central;
USA
doughnuts are embedded in the very heart of American culture (although a
comparable contemporary passion for doughnuts has emerged to the north, in
Canada). But while acknowledging North America’s dominance, including its
vast literature on this fine food, the focus of this book will be global, since the
doughnut story has ancient and diverse roots indeed. In exploring these, we enter
a wider world of doughnuts that is amazingly varied – one, furthermore, that
enriches the North American doughnut story.
Ask the average passer-by to define a doughnut and they will probably
describe the product of twentieth-century mass production and marketing: a
sweet ring-or disc-shaped pastry. They might even volunteer a comment on the
Krispy Kreme logo, surely one of the world’s most recognizable, while images
of Homer Simpson might be invoked as the conversation continues. But such
reflection does little justice to the plethora of fried dough foods found around the
world that are described locally as doughnuts, or warrant inclusion in their
world. Defining the doughnut is not at all simple, and distinguishing one from its
many close relatives in the fried dough family can be a challenge.
In the first place, deep-fried balls of dough are found in almost all cultures.
And as with most foods through time, concepts alter as to what is, or is not, a
doughnut, or what makes a good one. The word itself is so broadly and
carelessly applied that attempts at definition are inevitably contested; many
people simply avoid the challenge. As the American writer John T. Edge noted
in Donuts: An American Passion (2006) before throwing his hands up over
doughnut definition word games, ‘All donuts are fried dough but not all fried
doughs are donuts.’
Already we encounter ambiguity over the spelling: donut or doughnut? The
first known appearance of ‘donut’ in print was in a children’s book, Peck’s Bad
Boy and his Pa, published in 1900: ‘He would just drink a cup of coffee and eat
a donut.’ The cookbooks of the time used ‘doughnut’, and so it apparently
remained until the 1920s, when Adolph Levitt, then owner of the New York-
based Display Doughnut Machine Corporation, sought to promote his automated
doughnut machines to foreign buyers, and ‘donut’ seemed a convenient
shorthand. Perhaps his inspiration came from abbreviated spellings on street
signs, for example ‘D’nuts for sale’, or from his many Jewish customers; the
Yiddish word donat applies to an unfilled doughnut, as of course were those
made by his machines. In America the interchangeability of the two spellings
was established by the end of the 1930s, and the use of ‘donut’ has slowly
increased in use there. But according to the Oxford English Dictionary ( ),
OED
‘doughnut’ is still preferred internationally, and by traditionalists everywhere,
and so, unless in a direct quotation, that spelling is used in this book.