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August 5th, 2006 Molly - Central

Donuts:  An American Passion by John T. Edge is the last volume in a series of food essays that include apple pie, fried chicken, hamburgers and fries:  all foods that are undeniably familiar in every American region, but sufficiently different as to warrant intense loyalties and nostalgia.  Who makes the best donuts?  It is anybody’s guess.  Personally, I enjoy a chocolate rabbi’s delight with raspberry filling from the Greenbush Bakery.

Who invented the first donut?  According to Edge, the origin of donuts is somewhat nebulous.  He refers to Biblical times and Lev. 7:12 in which offerings of thanksgiving to God be made with “cakes mingled with oil, of fine flour, fried.”  That sounds like a donut to me.  From Italian zeppoles to Lebanese awwamaats to Dutch olykoecks, every culture serves up some sort of fried dough treat.  That all donuts are fried dough is not up for debate.  The real question is, which fried doughs are donuts? 

Edge travels about the country testing various types of American donuts, including Krispy  Kremes, artisanal long johns from the Boston area, malassadas from Hawaii and beignets from the Big Easy, sharing history and lore along the way.  Especially charming is a chapter on the Salvation Army Lassies frying up donuts in France during WWI.

One thing is for sure, Donuts is a sweet book.

Entry Filed under: Nonfiction