Heather Delancey Hunwick - Doughnut: A Global History

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

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 cant do? It would be remiss, here at the outset, to do other than acknowledge that the USA is currently the worlds doughnut central; 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 Americas 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 worlds 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 childrens book, Pecks 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 Dnuts 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.

Sign on a derelict building, Oakland, California.

Now to tackle the complexity of definition. Alan Davidsons Oxford Companion to Food starts with a deep-fried ball or ring of soft dough. This respected reference work is in essence asserting that to qualify as a doughnut, a food item must have three essential characteristics: first, it must be deep-fried; second, it must be in the form of a ball or ring; and third, it must be made from soft dough. This seems straightforward enough, but as soon as we apply those criteria in a global context, problems arise; the adjectives or other descriptors are not particularly precise.