National Donut Day: Free Donuts!
Friday, June 5, 2009 at 11:19 Donut chains nationwide will be giving away free donuts today because of a national holdiay known simply as "Free Donut Day".
National donut day is always the first Friday in June and was originally started during World War 1.
The day is spent commemorating Salvation Army volunteers who braved the front lines in order to provide home cooked foods as a morale boost to soldiers. The donuts made in those days were often times cooked inside of the metal helmets of American soldiers.
Just back from Dunkin Donuts four Jelly Donuts.
Due to their fondness of the fried dough, American infantryman were often called “Doughboys”.
Brief History of the Doughnut:
- The doughnut originated from Holland during the sixteenth century. How do people from the Netherlands say doughnut? Oliebollen.
- Hanson Gregory is credited for the hole in the center of the doughnut. In 1847 he suggested to his mother to put a hole in the middle of her “fried cakes” to ensure the cake was fully cooked in the middle.
- In 1920, Adolph Levitt created the first doughnut machine.
Who Eats the Most Doughnuts?
- Canada has more doughnut shops, per capita, than any other country.
- Americans consume 10 million doughnuts annually.
- Louisville, Ky. is the number one doughnut loving city in the United States. People in Louisville eat more doughnuts per capita than any other city in the U.S.
Doughnut World Records:
- An American-style jelly doughnut weighing 1.7 tons, and was 16 feet in diameter by 16 inches high, holds the title as the largest doughnut ever made.
- John Haight holds the Guinness Book World Record for eating 29 doughnuts in just over 6 minutes.
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