Doughnuts

by Sophia Watson
History of Doughnuts
● Doughnuts are of ancient origin, and go back 12 millenia to the
Neolithic Revolution

● Pre-historic people began refining flour from wild grains and seeds,
used oils and fats for cooking, and found ways to sweeten what they
were eating

● Early humans used nuts, and an archeologist uncovered a fossilized

acorn cake found in Oklahoma, which dated back to at least 1500 BC

● The first domesticated animals were also sources of cooking oils and
fats

● Cave paintings near Valencia dated to about 8000 B.C. show stealing
sweet honey from a beehive
History of Doughnuts (Continued)

● Sugar cane was cultivated by 7000 B.C. in Papua New Guinea

● The first written records in history show Sumerians fermented liquids,

meaning yeast and fermentation beyond bread, and sheep were used for
cooking oil

● Early Fertile Crescent communities made early forms of doughnuts using

variety of grains, leavening, sweeteners, animal fats, copper and bronze
cookware

● Archaeologists have found fossils that look like bits of doughnuts from
prehistoric Native American settlements

● An Egyption wall painting (reigning Pharaoh Thutmose III from 1479-

1425 B.C.) says put in fat and cook the cake, with an early image deep-
frying portions of dough
History of Doughnuts (Continued)
● Ancient Greek writings, back through circa 250 B.C. include honey, honey
cakes, and similar sweets

● Ancient Romans and Greeks ate sweetened fried doughs

● The first known written recipes for honey cakes were from second century
B.C. Rome, then in a first-century A.D. cookbook

● A third century B.C. Chinese poem referred to honey cakes of rice flour

● A manuscript from when Marco Polo was in China (1275) included honey
fritters

● The Mid-East had numerous written recipes that included sweets like
doughnuts, especially since the 1200s
History of Doughnuts (Continued)
● Invention of the printing press in the 1400s resulted in recipes being
distributed through Europe

● Yeast doughnuts and cake doughnuts were popular back to at least 1888

● Ingredients, shapes, and recipes varied as the concept of doughnuts spread

throughout Europe

● Doughnut variations exist around the world, including Greece, Italy, Peru,
Hungary, Poland, Russia, Mexico, Canada, Spain, Finland, Portugal,
Tunisia, India, etc.

● The Chinese “youtiao,” a breakfast item that expanded into a snack treat, is
made from fried dough
History of Doughnuts (Continued)

● There is global controversy over whether some countries or cultural

variations can truly be defined as doughnuts, especially because
ingredients vary so much

● There is controversy over deep frying in fats and oils, so cooking gadgets
are being developed to make doughnut look-alikes without deep frying

● Global versions of doughnuts may also vary by shapes, cooking temps,

sweetener used before and/or after cooking, or savory instead
American History of Doughnuts

● Most believe the doughnut in America is first traced back to early Dutch
immigrants in 17th- and 18th-century New York, who prepared fried dough balls
called olykoeks, which meant oil cakes

● Before the word “donuts” entered the American language, the treats were known
by a variety of names across cultures, such as the Dutch “olykoeks”

● Some believe doughnuts were first brought to America by the Spanish who first
established a North American colony at St. Augustine, Florida in 1565

● Some claim the origin of American doughnuts came from the French who settled
in New Orleans, because they made fritters/beignet

● Some believe doughnuts came to America along with British cookbooks from the
1600s-1700s that had recipes for fritters
American History of Doughnuts (Continued)
● The earliest American printed doughnut recipe did not appear until after
1800

● Germans in America imported books in the late 1700s to early 1800s

that had doughnut recipes

● Recipes and cooking of doughnuts became extremely popular in New

York and around the New England area

● While it is unclear when doughnuts became a breakfast food in America,

by the mid-1800s, coffee and doughnuts dominated American breakfasts

● Chemical leavenings, cake doughnuts, and other recipe variations were

being used in 1800s America
American History of Doughnuts (Continued)
● Doughnut recipes were often in American cookbooks by the
mid-nineteenth century

● Many myths explain how American doughnuts got their

hole

● An early form of doughnut cutter was first patented in

America by 1857

● Cake doughnuts were favored in America right after the

Civil War

● An 1872 doughnut cutter patent ejected the hole before the

next doughnut was cut
American History of Doughnuts (Continued)
● As time went on, the convenience of fast, economical, and tasty
doughnuts made them even more popular in America, even on
farms, in mining and lumber camps, and on ships

● The late 19th and early 20th centuries in America brought about
baking powder and the introduction of vegetable shortening,
which manufacturers promoted by distributing free baking recipe
booklets

● Doughnuts had been fully claimed by the United States by the

early 1900s

● The ring-shaped doughnut was dominant by the time America

entered WWI
American History of Doughnuts (Continued)
● Some believe the “nut” part of the word
“doughnut” refers to its initial small round nut
size and shape

● The “donut” spelling became popular

due to 20th-century spread of the
“Doughnut Plant” chain in America,
which started to use the shorter
spelling

● The shorter version was catchy, and was

easier to fit on American’s developing
sign culture, marquees, and
advertisements.
● The name “doughnut” was an early example of
American branding of a product, and helped to
create interest in it
American History of Doughnuts (Continued)
● Doughnuts were served by female volunteers to the soldiers in the
WWI trenches

● Soldiers wanted to eat doughnuts, and “doughnut girls” handed out

over a million

● During WW1, American soldiers were reminded of home when they

ate a doughnut

● American soldiers and veterans craved doughnuts even after they

returned home from WW1

● By the 1920s, Americans began a demand for ready-made

doughnuts, so bakeries expanded production and there were more
patents for mechanizing doughnut production
American History of Doughnuts (Continued)
● In 1920, an automatic doughnut machine in a window of Levitt’s
bakery in Harlem, became a public spectacle because people could
watch the doughnuts in production. People stood watching dough
go in and doughnuts come out, and the machine produced 1,000
identical doughnuts an hour

● By the 1930s the Doughnut Corporation of America had created the

National Dunking Association as a gimmick to increase doughnut
sales by encouraging people to dunk their doughnuts in coffee, tea,
or milk. The first Dunkin’ Donuts, known for both its coffee and its
doughnuts, was opened in 1950.

● During WWII, the Red Cross assisted with distributing doughnuts to

the troops in order to lift their spirits By the end of WWII, the world
started to view particular doughnuts as American doughnuts.
American History of Doughnuts (Continued)
● Franchised doughnut businesses became popular, doughnuts mass-produced

● Krispy Kreme, Dunkin’ Donuts, and Mr. Donut became popular franchises and
competitors in America 1940s-1960s

● These big franchises expanded internationally, with mixed success, but knock-offs
of American doughnuts in these other countries also emerged

● Krispy Kreme and Dunkin’ Donuts are still extremely profitable companies in North
America, even though supermarkets and online sale of doughnuts are creating
competition

● People blame American doughnuts for being unhealthy, having empty calories,
contributing to obesity and poor nutrition, and calorie colonialism

● New forms of American doughnuts have been developed and marketed to

improving ingredients and make them less unhealthy
Doughnuts in Culture
● The image of doughnuts has become so popular in our culture that people
are collecting and using things with the doughnut symbol, including shirts,
jewelry, wrapping paper, and mugs

● People have started collecting doughnut memorabilia such as posters and

vintage cookbooks

● Doughnuts or doughnut type foods are included in many different religious

holidays and celebrations around the world

● Doughnuts or doughnut type foods are included in fairs, festivals, and

carnivals

● Doughnuts are used as street food, road food, holiday food, home food,
and comfort food

● Doughnuts are being used for weddings, anniversaries, birthdays, and

baby showers
Doughnuts in Culture (Continued)

● Since the 1700s, doughnuts and coffee have been used for all kinds
of social gatherings, civic meetings, and fundraising events.

● Doughnuts continue to be globally popular, and people continue to

improve ingredients and push their creativity with them.

● The cultural significance of doughnuts is shown by their presence in

social lives, public spaces, special occasions, memories, artwork,
literature, films and movies, books, plays, and TV.

● The accepted doughnut definition is now usually thought to include

deep-fried soft to sticky dough, eggs, leavened with yeast or other
agents to produce pastry slight crust and have a moist, spongy,
cake-like interior, usually sweetened, either before or after frying or
both, not always shaped as a ring or flattened sphere, and may have
things like jam or dried fruit inside.
Bibliography
Delancey Hunwick, Heather. Doughnut A Global History. London ECIV ODX, UK, Reaktion Books Ltd,
2015.

James Hardy, "The Ring of Truth: Unveiling Who Invented Donuts", History Cooperative, December 8,
2023, https://historycooperative.org/who-invented-donuts/. Accessed February 13, 2024

www.britannica.com/topic/doughnut

www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-history-of-the-doughnut-150405177/