Donuts: An American Passion

by John T. Edge

A new installment of the popular series that includes Hamburgers & Fries and Apple Pie combines cultural history with a selection of recipes, in a volume that traces the doughnut's Dutch origins, its rise in 1950s America, and the contributions of popular doughnut chains.

Genres: Food, History, Nonfiction, Cookbooks

192 pages, Hardcover

First published May 18, 2006

About the author

John T. Edge writes and hosts the Emmy Award–winning television show TrueSouth on the SEC Network, ESPN, Disney, and Hulu. Edge also writes a restaurant column for Garden & Gun. His 2017 book, The Potlikker Papers: A Food History of the Modern South, was named one of the best books of the year by NPR and Publishers Weekly. Edge serves the University of Mississippi as a teacher, writer-in-residence, and director of the Mississippi Lab. And he serves the University of Georgia as a mentor in their low-residency MFA program in narrative nonfiction. He lives in Oxford, Mississippi, with his wife, the artist Blair Hobbs.

Reviews

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

What better way to explore the history and culture of a nation than through their gastronomical preferences. I really enjoyed this light and entertaining commentary on the donuts of America and the people that make them.

[Rogue Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

Edge is a wonderful folklorist who focuses on Southern foodways so I was surprised to read his Donuts, a more universal work spanning many cuisines, countries and people. Of course I went right out and checked out the donuts at the grocery and two more upscale coffee shops. No difference except the price and I enjoyed both equally.

[Matthew Barnes · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was good, I don’t know if I’ve ever read a book of creative non fiction before. I liked the voice, but sometimes the vocabulary felt a bit over the top. Maybe I’m just not as smart as I think. Either way I preferred this to Doughnut: A Global History.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Man, I love donuts. Now I'm hungry.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Take some dough, fry it, and then douse it in sugar. You now have the donut (doughnut). A favorite breakfast (or anytime) treat of many, the donut can actually be found in many cultures all over the world and by different names. But the concept is the same. Sweet fried dough. And this book is part of a series on American food by Edge. But you don't have to read them in any particular order.

"Donuts" is what you'd expect. It's a book about donuts. There's some history, mentions of different types of donuts by culture or country, and some explorations of famous donut shops. Edge also includes a few recipes for certain types of donuts.

Edge visits a lot of different donut shops, but they seem to mostly be centered on the West Coast. There is a vast majority of shops in Seattle and California, and quite a few in Hawaii too, which for the purpose of this book I'm going to consider "west coast" instead of the island that it is. Sure we do get down to New Orleans for some beignets, but the east coast only has a few mentions, and the south is dominated by Krispy Kreme. Now, granted, Krispy Kreme is popular and what started the doughnut revolution, so it does have its place in this book. All of the donut shop owners though don't really offer a whole lot about themselves or their products. Or at least Edge doesn't write about them very much. He does make note that they were mostly secretive, but I would have though there would be more than there actually is in this book.

In fact, most of this particular book is about the different donuts Edge tries at all these places. When compared to the other books I've read in this series, it just isn't as impressive on giving the whole picture of the food. It does the travelogue thing, but the history and lore of the food just isn't very prominent in this book. This was actually the first book of his that I had trouble keeping my attention on. I kept wandering off to more interesting things. And considering its not that long of a book, that was surprising to me. But I made my way through it and learned a little more about the donut. Although he tantalized with mentioning things like Ny-Quil donuts but never actually saying what they were.

I'd give this book two and a half stars. There was some interesting information contained within it, but largely it didn't have enough interesting things to make it an excellent food book.

Donuts
Copyright 2006
174 pages

Review by M. Reynard

More of my reviews can be found at www.ifithaswords.blogspot.com

[Julie Davis · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was the only book of the four "American Food" books Edge wrote that I hadn't read yet. (The others were Hamburgers & Fries, Fried Chicken, and Apple Pie.) All the others brought us Edge's enthusiasm, curiousity, and appetite to the table. Small though they were, they were satisfying. This book, however, as the last of the four may stand more to show us Edge's cynical, tired side. He didn't really bring the subject to life and seemed to spend most of his time in California, instead of ranging around to show regional variations or innovation. Several times he confessed to a cynical approach to different bakers' products and then snapped out of it when something would happen to show him how wonderful and genuine they really were. Only to have him later ... again confess to cynicism, etc. and repeat the cycle.

I'll keep the book as it is part of the matched set and is not actually bad. It is just ok. And compared with how great the other books were, that is a crime. Edge might have done better to have postponed the book or not fulfilled the promise to do it rather than to deliver this forced effort.

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. John T Edge's series on American foods are great reads for foodies. I was especially thrilled to see that a book on donuts included great coverage of the kind I grew up eating in my grandmother's kitchen - malassadas.

[Rick Segers · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one a four part series of books on uniquely American foods written by John Edge of the Southern Foodways Alliance. these are great books for foodies of course but also for fans of the particular foods. All feature great background and recipes.

[Chelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't even eat donuts but it was an interesting history and perspective on American culture. I am kind of hungry for a donut with sprinkles now.

[Aaron · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love all forms of fried dough! This was a great little read full of yummy cultural tidbits and good recipes.

[Jessica · Rating 2 out of 5]

A few interesting passages, but overall very disjointed.