The first thing you have to decide when writing about donuts is how to spell the word: donuts, doughnuts, do-nuts, dough-nuts… I’ve decided on “donuts” mostly because it’s shorter and easier to type. And though today’s artwork is from a 1946 booklet from the Doughnut Corporation of America, they also use “donut” as the generic term.
To understand why anyone, even a donut producer, would publish a booklet of cartoons, jokes and games about donuts, you have to appreciate how popular these baked goods were at the time. Donuts enjoyed a popularity boost during World War II when they were a staple treat for soldiers, supplied by the Red Cross and Salvation Army, among others. Click on any image for a larger version.
I never gave much thought to donuts, though they seem to come in and out of popularity. When I was a kid, my family would get up at dawn to go on trips and always stop at Winchell’s Donuts on the way out of town. My favorite was the maple bar, though today I can’t stomach so much sugar.
And of course I remember the big Krispy Kreme craze of a few years back when everyone went nuts for hot donuts, until they realized that you can’t eat that way for very long and survive.
According to popular radio comedian Fred Allen, who authored this 1946 booklet, donuts are, by nature, already funny, thanks mostly to their shape. And, he says, donuts are the ultimate comfort food: “It’s always fair weather when good fellows dunk together.”
But who knew donuts were so much fun, or, according to the Doughnut Corporation of America, so full of nutrition? “Start the day right with delicious wheat,” advise the publishers, though it doesn’t stop there. “No meal is a good meal that doesn’t include wheat in some form.” This was obviously before the whole low-carb thing.
As we learn in this booklet, donuts are not only full of golden wheat, but stuffed with Vitamin “Z” for “zest.” And we all need more vitamin Z.
As for the fun part, donuts are at the heart of many whacky games of the sort I hope to never play. There are donut-dunking contests, dunking relay races, donut treasure hunts, and even funny donut hats as prizes.
I’m not sure where all the donuts came from in those days—they must have been pretty cheap to buy, or maybe people made them at home. When you’re playing games where each contestant balances six donuts on their head, you’re bound to lose a few along the way.
I’ve never been much for playing with food, and can’t really imagine using donuts as toy substitutes, especially among adults. But I do still enjoy an occasional donut when someone brings them to work, and they remain my primary source of Vitamin Z.
This article was last modified on May 15, 2023
This article was first published on August 19, 2011
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