# Regional differences in meaning of "doughnut" (donut)? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** food-cooking\ **Created:** [October 11, 2020, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regional-differences-in-meaning-of-doughnut-donut/922718 "2020-10-11T15:03:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![StarvingButStrong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/starvingbutstrong/32/335_2.png) [@StarvingButStrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StarvingButStrong)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2020, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regional-differences-in-meaning-of-doughnut-donut/922718/21 "2020-10-11T23:12:32Z")
> [@Kron](#): > > Your “sticks” are what I am calling “braids”! If I’d seen that post, I wouldn’t have written mine, but by then I was busy typing. There was this little independent place around Arlington that made raisin-spice sticks/braids/whatever that I swear were the BEST doughnuts in the world. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2020, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regional-differences-in-meaning-of-doughnut-donut/922718/22 "2020-10-11T23:31:37Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > For what it’s worth, in the 1950s my mother used to make donuts by deep-frying balls of dough about two inches in diameter, with no hole, then dusting them with confectioners sugar. I’m not sure where she got the recipe from. Sounds like a variation on beignets. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2020, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regional-differences-in-meaning-of-doughnut-donut/922718/23 "2020-10-11T23:47:24Z")
Would doughnuts and bagels be an example of “convergent evolution”? ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2020, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regional-differences-in-meaning-of-doughnut-donut/922718/24 "2020-10-11T23:57:18Z")
And their cousin the bundt cake. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2020, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regional-differences-in-meaning-of-doughnut-donut/922718/25 "2020-10-12T00:03:54Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > > [@Colibri](#): > > > > For what it’s worth, in the 1950s my mother used to make donuts by deep-frying balls of dough about two inches in diameter, with no hole, then dusting them with confectioners sugar. I’m not sure where she got the recipe from. > > Sounds like a variation on beignets. They were much denser than the beignets I’ve had in France or New Orleans. As far as I can tell, they were almost identical to Dutch [olliebollen](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliebol) (which is I guess a type of beignet.), except my mother didn’t put fruit in them, but flavored them with a little nutmeg. These sound like the original kind of Dutch donut referred to in 1809. I don’t believe I’ve seen them elsewhere in the US. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2020, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regional-differences-in-meaning-of-doughnut-donut/922718/26 "2020-10-12T00:09:09Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > Would doughnuts and bagels be an example of “convergent evolution”? The toroidal shape does serve the same purpose, in making cooking more even, although bagels are boiled and baked, while donuts are traditionally fried in oil. ---
**Author:** ![pirviii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pirviii/32/3233_2.png) [@pirviii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pirviii)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2020, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regional-differences-in-meaning-of-doughnut-donut/922718/27 "2020-10-12T02:49:54Z")
Where do Apple Fritters and Cinnamon Rolls fall? I buy them when I buy doughnuts along with everything else mentioned. Doughnut just encompasses so many wonderful things. ---
**Author:** ![kitap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@kitap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitap)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2020, 9:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regional-differences-in-meaning-of-doughnut-donut/922718/28 "2020-10-12T09:36:05Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > And their cousin the bundt cake. But do you put a flower pot in the hole in the bundt cake? > [@pirviii](#): > > Where do Apple Fritters and Cinnamon Rolls fall? I buy them when I buy doughnuts along with everything else mentioned. Doughnut just encompasses so many wonderful things. Fritters are donuts. Cinnamon rolls are pastries. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2020, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regional-differences-in-meaning-of-doughnut-donut/922718/29 "2020-10-12T11:49:23Z")
Here’s a recipe for the kind of doughnuts I’ve always known in the UK -fried, yeast-risen, ball-shaped, filled and sugar-dusted: [https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/doughnut-dough](https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/doughnut-dough) But we are also very familiar now with Krispy Kreme and similar iced and ring-shaped creations. If anything, mass-produced jam doughnuts might well be thought of as old-fashioned and a bit downmarket. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2020, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regional-differences-in-meaning-of-doughnut-donut/922718/30 "2020-10-12T12:03:27Z")
Could Subway sandwiches (and in particular, the rolls) be a kind of doughnut? > **[Subway bread is not bread, Irish court rules](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/oct/01/irish-court-rules-subway-bread-is-not-bread)** > > Judge finds that sugar content of US chain’s sandwiches exceeds stipulated limit and they should thus be classified as confectionery ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2020, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regional-differences-in-meaning-of-doughnut-donut/922718/31 "2020-10-12T12:11:15Z")
I think it’s the frying that makes a donut a donut; not the sugar. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2020, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regional-differences-in-meaning-of-doughnut-donut/922718/32 "2020-10-12T12:13:44Z")
So [deep-fried battered onion rings](https://www.cuisinart.com/globalassets/recipes/recipe_7544_210498023) are a kind of doughnut? ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2020, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regional-differences-in-meaning-of-doughnut-donut/922718/33 "2020-10-12T12:23:01Z")
There was a thread some time back in CS that tried to define pasta. It turned out to be difficult to reduce it to a simple explanation because there were so many ways different foodstuffs are turned into noodles and dough that can’t be clearly distinguished from the foods most commonly known as pasta. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2020, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regional-differences-in-meaning-of-doughnut-donut/922718/34 "2020-10-12T12:33:52Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > So [deep-fried battered onion rings](https://www.cuisinart.com/globalassets/recipes/recipe_7544_210498023) are a kind of doughnut? Batter isn’t dough. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2020, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regional-differences-in-meaning-of-doughnut-donut/922718/35 "2020-10-12T12:41:16Z")
Donuts can be made from batter. ---
**Author:** ![TRC4941](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trc4941/32/6792_2.png) [@TRC4941](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TRC4941)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2020, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regional-differences-in-meaning-of-doughnut-donut/922718/36 "2020-10-12T13:53:06Z")
Once a week, when I’m grocery shopping, I buy myself and my husband each one donut from the grocery store’s bakery to get our fix. I texted him the other night when I was in the store - donut? He texted back - yes. So I bought my most favorite raised donut with chocolate frosting and I picked out a bismark (jelly donut) for him (which is one of his faves). When I got home he looked in the bag and said, “I thought you were getting me a donut”! Apparently, to him, donuts are the things with holes in the middle and nothing else. Cake donuts, raised donuts, donut holes, bismarks, long johns, cinnamon twists, fried cinnamon rolls, apple fritters are all classified as a donut in my mind. And here cola does not mean any carbonated beverage, it’s only used for a Coke or Pepsi type drink. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2020, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regional-differences-in-meaning-of-doughnut-donut/922718/37 "2020-10-12T14:00:50Z")
Ah, so your husband is evidence for support for the book’s definition of American doughnut. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2020, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regional-differences-in-meaning-of-doughnut-donut/922718/38 "2020-10-12T14:45:18Z")
According to the [Google Ngram](https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=jelly+doughnut%2Cjelly+donut&year_start=1800&year_end=2019&corpus=26&smoothing=3&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cjelly%20doughnut%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cjelly%20donut%3B%2Cc0) viewer, jelly doughnut seems to have started appearing in books around 1920 (and jelly donut around 1940). [Doughnut](https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=doughnut%2C+donut&year_start=1800&year_end=2019&corpus=26&smoothing=3&direct_url=t1%3B%2Cdoughnut%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cdonut%3B%2Cc0) is mentioned occasionally back to 1800, starting to become more common around 1860 (with the donut spelling again appearing around 1940). As has been mentioned, jelly donuts existed before 1920, but they were called berliners or bismarks. I wonder if the change could have been influenced by anti-German sentiment after WWI? ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2020, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regional-differences-in-meaning-of-doughnut-donut/922718/39 "2020-10-12T15:23:46Z")
Oddly enough, there was a video in my youtube feed of a Brit trying an American donut. At the 8.20 mark he asserts that donuts are not that common in the UK, FWIW. Warning it’s an 11 minute long and kind of pointless video. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/LsoQgydeXos/maxresdefault.jpg "British Verdict on American Apple Cider Donuts") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsoQgydeXos) ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2020, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regional-differences-in-meaning-of-doughnut-donut/922718/40 "2020-10-12T15:24:10Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Malasadas are often called ‘Portuguese donuts’ as another example. We’ve been binge-watching the **Hawaii Five-O** reboot and they are always slogging down malasadas (cop joke?) and trying to pass them off as Hawai’ian. Terrible old joke: Where were the first do-nuts fried? In Greece. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regional-differences-in-meaning-of-doughnut-donut/922718.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/regional-differences-in-meaning-of-doughnut-donut/922718.md?page=3)