National Donut Day

Of course, we don’t need a reason to celebrate National Donut Day. For some people, we are betting that they wish every day was in honor of this special treat.

However, this day has special significance, and this goes all the way back to the events of the First World War!

There wasn’t a lot for our soldiers to cheer about when they risked life and limb on a daily basis, but National Donut Day came to pass in 1938, in part, due to the efforts of a doctor in the military in the first World War who sought to brighten the day of the wounded soldiers he worked on.

On his first day to the Military Base, he purchased 8 dozen doughnuts and gave one to each soldier he worked on. After giving one to Lieutenant General Samuel Geary, who received it with great mirth and appreciation for the doctors work, Samuel decided to start a fundraiser, letting the young doctor, Morgan Pett, to continue to provide doughnuts to his patients.

This fundraiser began working together with the Salvation Army who, after a fact-finding mission, determined that many needs of the soldiers could be met by creating social centers that would provide all sorts of amenities, including the doughnuts.

The Salvation Army sent 250 volunteers to France to help put these huts together, which soon became a mainstay of military life. One record of a day in the huts recorded up to 300 doughnuts and 700 cups of coffee being served as part of their service.

Due to the majority of the workers being female, the Salvation Army workers started to be known as “Doughnut Dollies.”

Back at home, in honor of the work that had been created for the brave soldiers on the front line, people used ‘National Donut Day’ to raise awareness about the war, and to raise funds for the Salvation Army. This tradition to raise money for the organization still happens today.

So, that is the history of National Donut Day, but what about the history of the humble doughnut itself, we hear you ask (probably with a mouth stuffed full of one of those tasty treats)?

The history of the doughnut isn’t clearly known, but what is known is that their iconic look started making an appearance in the United States in the mid-19th century. Rumor has it that Elizabeth Gregory, a New England ship captain’s mother, made a delicious deep-fried dough treat to feed her son Hanson Gregory and his crew.

She made them as they could easily be stored onboard, and it was thought that the goodies she produced could help ward off colds and the prospect of scurvy.

Elizabeth put walnuts in the center where the dough couldn’t cook through, and she (quite rightfully so), named them “doughnuts”. The term has since been shortened in its spelling to “donuts”.

The origin of the hole, or say legend says, is when Harrison, out of a distaste for the undercooked centers and greasiness of the existing shapes and options, punched a hole in the center with a tin pepper box. And voila, the traditional shape of the dessert you crave and love today was born. Allegedly.

Donuts didn’t become widely available for public consumption until the 1920s when inventor, Adolph Levitt, created a gadget to mass-produce doughnuts from his bakery.

Word go out and by 1934 at the Chicago World’s Fair, donuts had become poster material. People the world over soon began to fall in love with these tasty offerings.