Food & Drink

The delicious history of the American donut

The first Friday in June is National Doughnut Day! No, really: The holiday dates back to 1938, when the Salvation Army honored people who served doughnuts to soldiers during World War I. Though folks have fixated lately on Frankenstein pastries like the cronut, New York City still loves its doughnuts. You can nab a free one today at local spots Dun-Well Donuts (which offers yummy vegan doughnuts) and the Doughnut Plant, as well as chains such as Dunkin’ Donuts and Tim Hortons.

Homer Simpson’s favorite food has been around for centuries in one form or another, but its modern history starts in the 1800s. Here are some highlights:

  • Early 19th century: Legend has it that Elizabeth Gregory, a New England ship captain’s mother, made a deep-fried dough so sailors could store pastries on long voyages. From the ship’s spice cargo, she used nutmeg, cinnamon and lemon rind, and put a hazelnut or walnut in the center because the dough might not cook all the way through. There you have it: the literal birth of the “dough nut.”
  • Mid-1840s: The “hole” appears. Various stories credit the creation to Gregory’s son Hanson Crockett Gregory, who impaled his mother’s pastry on a spike so he could steer the ship. More likely, bakers realized the pastries cooked more evenly with a hole in the middle.
  • 1920: The first doughnut machine debuts in New York City, thanks to an enterprising Russian refugee named Adolph Levitt. His doughnuts were such a hit, he made a machine that churned them out faster.
Two American soldiers , who are brothers, sample doughnuts offered by a member of an American red Cross clubmobile in Normandy during the summer of 1944.Getty Images
  • 1937: Two friends borrowed ingredients from a local grocer in Winston-Salem, N.C., and baked the first batch of Krispy Kremes.
  • World War II: Red Cross women known as Doughnut Dollies distributed doughnuts and coffee on bases to soldiers to keep morale high. The practice continued through the Vietnam War.
  • 1942: In the musical “This is the Army,” Irving Berlin wrote a ditty about a soldier awaiting his love’s return at Broadway’s Stage Door Canteen: “I sat there dunking doughnuts till she caught on.”

  • 1950: What did America run on before? Dunkin’ Donuts opens in Quincy, Mass.
  • 1989: “The Simpsons” debuts on TV on Fox . Creator Matt Groening said he based Homer’s love of doughnuts on his dad, also named Homer. The animated Homer rationalizes the doughnut’s health benefits this way: “This has purple in it. Purple is a fruit.”
  • 1998: Winchell’s Donut House in Pasadena, Calif., creates the world’s largest doughnut. Weighing in at 5,000 pounds and 95 feet wide, it was made to celebrate the bakery’s 50th anniversary.
Doughnut shocker! Dunkin’ Donut topped Starbucks as the largest chain in NYC.AP
  • 2010: “30 Rock” star Tina Fey declares her love of famous Greenpoint baker Peter Pan, saying “The best doughnut? That’s Peter Pan doughnuts in Brooklyn. It’s a Polish bakery. We shot nearby once for ‘30 Rock.’ It’s a white-cream-filled powdered doughnut. And I really believe, when I first tried it, if I had a penis, I would put it in this doughnut. I finally understand what you guys are thinking about and what motivates you guys.”
  • December 2013: Dunkin’ Donuts tops Starbucks as the largest chain in New York City. At the time, the New England-based Dunkin had 515 shops in the city; the Seattle-based coffee shop has only 283.
The famed cronut makes its debut at Dominique Ansel’s Bakery in May 2013.Getty Images
  • May 10, 2013: The cronut, a hybrid doughnut/croissant, debuts at Dominique Ansel’s bakery in Soho and sets off a craze, with hour-long lines, black-market purchases and an endless stream of knockoffs. It also sets off a the era of the portmanteau pastries, including the donart (doughnut and tart) and the duffin (doughnut and muffin).
  • June 2014: Beloved Long Island baker Entenmann’s announced it’s closing the five-acre Long Island plant it has operated since 1961. Its doughnuts, cakes and pies will still be available in New York, but they’ll be made at other plants owned by parent company Bimbo Bakeries, which bought the brand in 2002.