Today, just like last year, we celebrate those delectable treats with a piece missing. As you enjoy a free donut from one of your favorite eateries, brush up on some sweet history about America’s favorite breakfast delicacy, and see how Dassault Systèmes is at the forefront of donut simulation technology.
A Comprehensive History of Donuts in America:
- Donuts came to Manhattan under the name olykoeks – Dutch for “oily cakes”.
- Mid-19th century – Elizabeth Gregory bakes deep-fried dough for her New England ship captain son. She puts hazelnuts in the center, making it so the dough doesn’t cook through, thus coining the term “dough-nuts”.
- WWI – Volunteers bring donuts as a taste of home to soldiers on the French trenches.
- 1920 – Adolph Levitt begins selling donuts in his New York bakery. He begins producing donut-making machines, which end up earning him $25 million per year.
- 1934 – Donuts are deemed “the food hit of the Century of Progress” at the World’s Fair in Chicago.
- 1937 – Vernon Rudolph and friends begin selling Krispy Kremes out of their Pontiac in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
- 1938 – The first national donut day is celebrated to honor the kindness of the Salvation Army during WWII, when they brought donuts to soldiers as they did in the previous world war.
- 1950 – The first Dunkin’ Donuts opens in Quincy, Massachusetts, just down the road from our North American headquarters.
- 1963 – President John F. Kennedy states, “Ich bein ein Berliner”, which leads people to think that he mistakenly referred to himself as a jelly donut, rather than one with the city of Berlin. This myth is later debunked.
- 1987 – Private Pyle is the center of attention as he eats a jelly donut in the infamous scene from Full Metal Jacket.
- 1989 – The Simpsons premieres on Fox, with Homer leading the Simpson clan as an avid donut lover and frequent patron of Lard Lad’s Donuts.
- 2003 – Krispy Kreme, the donut of choice in the South, invades New England, home of Dunkin Donuts. It later closes most of it stores, but makes a comeback in 2016.
- 2014 – Burger King buys Canadian donut giant Tim Horton’s, leaving some to speculate that a donut burger is in the works.
- 2014 – Americans spend over a half of a billion dollars on donuts purchased from convenience stores over the course of the year.
Like everyone, we at Dassault Systèmes love a good donut. In fact, we love them so much that we have applied our SOLIDWORKS simulation technology to the agony of dropping a jelly donut and watching it hit the ground.
Watch our real-world drop test video, and see how we’re creating simulations to help analyze the issues that really matter (spoiler alert: a jelly donut fares much better when dropped from 3 feet instead of 20 feet).
More coffee, anyone?
*Image courtesy of FOX. Featured “Donuts” image courtesy of Dave Crosby
