TRIVIA CONNECTION
Take a Bite Out of
Donut Trivia By Paula Green
this sugar-coated query. Get set to cream the answers, because it’s time to get a little trivial. 1. What do you call Polish donuts that are often sold in grocery stores? 2. In 1934, Clark Gable started the trend of dunking donuts in coffee when he did this in which film? 3. This donut is made from rolled dough and has a twisted, braided, elongated shape. 4. Which New England city has the most donut shops in the U.S., one shop for every 2,480 people? 5. This bakery has been around for 122 years, and turns out 100,000 donuts every hour. Their products are sold in grocery stores. 6. Long John donuts are yeast-based and deep-fried, then filled. This similar donut is made of choux dough, baked then filled. 7. Who famously sang The Donut Song? 8. This Canadian-based restaurant invented the Apple Fritter and Dutchie variety of donuts in the 1960s. 9. Name the cartoon character whose favorite food is donuts. 10. This donut shop was founded in Pittsburgh’s Strip District in 2009. 11. Among Americans of German descent, this donut has been thought to bring good luck to those who eat them on New Year’s Eve. 12. Name the made-to-order donut store prominent on the eastern seashore. 13. This national chain sells donut centers called Munchkins. 14. Which chain boasts “hot doughnuts now” in their signage? 15. What type of donut is the number one seller in the United States? Sources: www.quora.com/How-many-doughnuts-do-Americans-consume, www. allthatsinteresting.com/historyofdoughnuts, www.foodreference.com/html/doughnuts, www.brownielocks.com/donuts.html, https://www.thethings.com/theseare-the-15-most-popular-donut-flavors-in-america/, https://www.mentalfloss.com/ article/71300/15-delicious-facts-about-doughnuts, https://www.factretriever.com/ doughnut-facts, mobile-cuisine.com/did-you-know/doughnut-fun-facts
Answers: 1. paczki 2. It Happened One Night 3. cruller 4. Boston 5. Entenmann’s 6. eclair 7. Burl Ives 8. Tim Horton’s 9. Homer Simpson 10. Peace, Love & Little Donuts 11. Jelly donut 12. The Fractured Prune 13. Dunkin 14. Krispy Kreme 15. glazed
I
t is a sweet, round, fried cake usually with a hole in its center. Yes, it is - the donut or doughnut. Whichever way you spell it, this tasty delight is tremendously popular. English folks generally use the extended doughnut spelling version. Americans tend to shorten it to donut. There are raised donuts that contain yeast, and cake donuts that use a batter containing baking powder or baking soda. According to a May 2019 survey by quora.com, the average American eats 31 donuts a year. That is around two or three a month. There are over 25,000 donut shops in this country, and they are producing more than 10 billion donuts a year. There is evidence that donuts have been around the world for centuries. In Ancient Rome and Greece, they cooked fried strips of dough. Dutch people introduced the first oily cakes (or olykoeks, as they were often called) to America in the early 1800s. Historians credit a Marine ship captain, Hanson Crockett Gregory, with the modern-day donut. It was his idea to remove the center of the donut. When World War I began, donuts were famous in America. During this era, the Salvation Army’s “Donut Lassies” served the sweet treats to soldiers on the front lines. In 1938, National Donut Day was established to honor these dedicated ladies. This day is celebrated annually on the first Friday in June; this year it is June 5. In 1920, Adolph Levitt, a Russian-born immigrant, invented the first automated doughnut machine. He called it the “Wonderful Almost Human Automatic Donut Machine.” At the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair, donuts were called the “hit food of the century of progress.” There are two famous donut chains; Dunkin Donuts was founded in 1948 by William Rosenberg. When it first opened, it was called Open Kettle. It is the oldest continuously running chain of donut shops. Krispy Kreme was founded in 1937. Vernon Rudolph rented a building in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where he sold donuts to grocery stores. Per capita, Canada has more donut shops than any other country. Randy’s Donuts is a landmark in Inglewood, California. The 22-foot diameter donut on top of the building has been featured in numerous TV and movies. Some wedding receptions now feature donut cakes. The enduring stereotype of the police officer with a donut emerged in the 1940s50s, when the only places open during the graveyard shift, were donut shops. Since we’ve sprinkled donut facts, we must now jam through
www.northernconnectionmag.com | JUNE 2020
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