Donuts: An American Passion [Hardcover]

John T. Edge (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 18, 2006

Acclaimed food writer and cultural historian John T. Edge conjures nostalgia by revealing portions of our history through our most cherished foods. Donuts is the cap on a scrumptious series toting comfort food, belying calorie-counting, and embracing those cornerstone, iconic dishes that have come to define American cuisine and customs over the years.

In Donuts, Edge walks us though the donut's inception as Dutch fare, the Salvation Army's wartime donuts, the invention of the donut machine, the 1950s donut-shop craze, the Krispy Kreme revolution, the appropriation by other ethnicities, and the fanatical chefs that take donuts to a new art form. Nothing encourages our sweet-tooth cravings like the donut. It is honest. It is satisfying. It is a national symbol that has survived the low carb-diet dogma and the death of the local donut shop, and it is making a comeback into the hearts of Americans.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This, the final of four volumes in food writer Edge's series about the "small-d democratic foods that conjure our collective childhood" (following fried chicken, apple pie and hamburgers), is a tour through donut-loving America that stops at unique donut shops and offers a handful of recipes for the ubiquitous ring of deep-fried and sugared dough. After quickly acknowledging donuts' nutritional bankruptcy, Edge explains how the Salvation Army made the consumption of donuts a patriotic necessity in World War I; how every culture has a donut-type pastry (including the Italian zeppole, the Lebanese awwamaat, the Croatian krafne and the South African koeksister); how New Orleans stalwart Café du Monde is still serving up beignets post-Katrina; and how an innovative Chicago chef has conjured up donut soup, for which Edge presents an alternate, though no less caloric, recipe. On the trivia end, readers will learn that Henry David Thoreau was once served a breakfast of "eels, green beans, and donuts," and Cambodian refugees "may own as many as 80 percent of the independent donut shops in Los Angeles." This is a warm-hearted appreciation that, like its subject, is hard to resist.
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About the Author

John T. Edge's work has appeared regularly in Gourmet and Saveur and has been featured in the 2001, 2002, 2003, and 2004 editions of Best Food Writing. He is currently the director of the Southern Foodways Alliance at the University of Mississippi. His cookbook, A Gracious Plenty, was nominated for a James Beard Foundation Award. In 2003, he was named "One of Twenty Southerners to Watch" by the Financial Times of London, and he was a finalist for the 2004 M. F. K. Fisher Distinguished Writing Award from the James Beard Foundation.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Putnam Adult (May 18, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0399153586
• ISBN-13: 978-0399153587
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 5.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,117,459 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I Read This Book in Less Than 24 Hours, June 30, 2006

By 

Robert R. Tenaglio (Philadelphia, PA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Donuts: An American Passion (Hardcover)

Next time I read a John T. Edge book, I'll remember to wear protection. A bib, to avert the Pavlovian swirls that are sure to follow.

Prepare yourself for a sweet thrill-jaunt in his wake as he flavor-plows North America, accompanied by the usual suspects (sugar & cinnamon), and more than a few surprises. I knew I was a fan when I read his line "I would shout down anyone who dared dispute the goodness inherent in oil-singed orbs of fruitcake." If you want to know where to find me, I'll be the guy on all fours propped behind his poor victim's knees to facilitate smooth sailing in his backward trajectory.

You'll read about why it's patriotic and even possibly healthy (this would be in the "history" part of the book) to indulge your donut fixation. Different ethnic takes on fried dough weigh in. Artistry is in full flower, no ingredient is sacred. Everybody gets into the act, and even "uberchef" Thomas Keller gets a mention.

This book gives you everything you could want in a donut book; history, comedy, personality, machinery, and especially, recipes. There are resources that you could use to start a donut business yourself.

Pretty smart kid he's got helping him out, too.

8 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars don't waste your cash, May 23, 2007

By 

Kulotta Mav (oakland, ca) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Donuts: An American Passion (Hardcover)

get it from the library. I found a copy on the street. it had a pink cover. I like pink. I love donuts. I love great writing and food-related information. I love learning the history of something through the people who were there...

I was hoping for a cross between ed behr and studs turkel. instead what I got was five recipes (haven't tried them yet) and a lot of bad filler for prose. you don't get the history and facts so much about donuts as you hear about how mr. edge went here and ate that. I started thinking maybe he wrote this book so he could justify a tax deduction on his driving and eating.

edge talks to several donut makers but ends up with very little information about them to write about. it seems no one likes mr. edge enough to open up to him. he seems unable to relate to them. he doesn't really present much by way of new information about donuts in general. when he describes a special donut he is eating, he does so with empty soundbites and not good writing.

maybe, if you are a cop, this could be a good summer beach read. otherwise there is better and more well-written stuff out there.

save your money!